


our destiny written in the stars

by Mugzie



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse of the word Oppa, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual 707 | Luciel Choi, Bisexual Male Character, Canon Dialogue, Domestic Fluff, Everyone Is Alive, Existential Angst, F/F, F/M, Fainting, Fate & Destiny, I put some funk on it though, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Inspired by Poetry, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Non-Consensual Touching, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Oblivious V, Rating May Change, Red String of Fate, Spoilers, Stabbing, Unrequited Crush, V | Jihyun Kim's Route, Why Did I Write This?, but sorta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 14:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13436961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mugzie/pseuds/Mugzie
Summary: “I hope my words will follow you. I hope that you hear them well… You’ve had the courage to end this obsession all along. The same courage you have to stand and let Rika tear you apart is just one side of a coin. On the other face is the courage to walk away. It’s just the action of flipping that coin. You have the coin… the courage but it takes strength to flip it. And you are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for.”orJeong Chaeyeon sees Kim Jihyun in a bookstore and falls head over heels long before them meeting in the messenger.





	our destiny written in the stars

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know where this idea came from but I'm obsessed with putting my own characters through shit so... indulge me.
> 
> Why did I write this big hulking thing, when I started I expected it to be well over 15 pages but it turned out to well over 50.

She was never one to believe in fate and destiny. Destiny was what one made themselves. A series of twists and turns on the path that was your life decided the direction you wanted to go. Never once in her fifteen years of living did things fate or destiny seem to have a mind of its own.

That it was a like a magnet to metal and it pulled you no matter how to turn.

It seemed to change all so suddenly one afternoon after her friends parted ways with her as she slipped into a bookstore. Fingers grasping at a book of poetry written by some New Zealand poet, translated into hangul. It wasn’t every day she bothered glancing at poetry, nor was it every day she found herself in a bookstore. She really only came in for a cappuccino if she was going to admit to it. She was also bored and looking for something to go with her cup of coffee and something to read in her spare time. It felt way too long since she read a book because she wanted to.

She randomly opened the book, no page seeming to matter since it was a book of poems after all and read the first few lines of one.

 _It is in the quietest of moments,_  
_the silent pause found_  
_in twilight hue,_  
_when the sun_  
_slips behind the horizon,_  
_lost to a single_  
_purple pen stroke -_  
_I find myself_ _  
_          thinking of you.

She blankly stared at the characters, like she could read it… but not comprehend the meaning or relate to it. It was a poem she thought; it was supposed to invoke some kind of feeling in the reader… but it sounded like romantic dribble.

She closed the book and lifted her head, momentarily blinded by the setting sun lighting a boy’s hair. Warm against its vibrancy, hair like polished turquoise. That very same warm light from the windows outside, caught his down-turned lashes, long the profile of his nose and rosy lips. She stood there gaping for a little while because he didn’t seem quite real. He felt placed there from some astral plane of existence, an ethereal being sent down to the mortal world to read some book on… ‘ethical business practices.’

What a laughably boring read, she would have thought if this high school boy weren’t some sort of angel or demigod. The only reason she knew as much was his uniform, a prestigious school because she recognized the colors the mustard and brown colors. Even when he was dressed in the drabbest colored uniform she’d seen in a while, and even when though he was reading the world's most boring piece of literature outside instruction manuals, she found him the most interesting thing in this bookstore and probably the most interesting for the next six blocks of the strip.

She probably knew she looked stupid, standing still with a book loosely hanging from her fingers staring at a boy that seemed engrossed in his reading, drinking him in greedily like he was a beverage to a thirsty man in the desert. It wasn’t until she dropped the book and it landed with a dull ‘flap’ on the floor did his eyes move over and up to her face. His eyes were just as bright as his hair, sharp perceptive eyes, now looking at her startled.

Busted, she scooped up her book and slipped into another isle of bookshelves. Her face and her red uniform seemed to match, save for her face being a bit blotchier. She felt guilty for staring and being nearly caught doing so was embarrassing. She roamed around a bit longer, every once in a while when the boy was in her vision, she’d watch him. It probably felt like the creepiest thing she’d ever done. Not that the idea of being voyeuristic appealed to her before.

Something about him just seemed captivating, some unknown force wanting to pull her in. Something about him made her heart clench and yearn to learn more, dote on him, comfort him. It was a strange feeling, almost obsessive. She did not know this boy and for all she knew he might have had some serious flaws. Hell, she hadn’t even heard his voice yet she was intrigued by how his dark lashes fanned his cheeks or the way his lips would purse and his eyes would become lidded as he probably read a particularly boring part.

As she finally got her order, she cast one last glance in his direction, as if trying to commit him to memory, she found him looking back at her. It wasn’t anything more than a passing glance but she flushed and ducked her head and high tailed out of there before she could burn up from embarrassment.

****

“No Chaeyeon… I don’t think I know some boy that you saw just based on his uniform.” Her mother said seeming exasperated by her daughter’s enthusiasm and dozens of questions.

“Well we should right? Don’t wealthy people network?” She said rolling her shoulders. “There also can’t be that many boys with blue hair and blue eyes that go to that particular school.”

“Blue hair and eyes…” Her mother rubbed her temples before peaking up with a small squint. “Wait… I used to know a girl who had hair that color. She was a musician and then she went and married and had a child. It’s been so long ago. I’ve only ever heard her husband being called Chief Kim.”

“You know his mother?” Chaeyeon’s eyes lit up but before she could even start with a barrage of questions, the girl’s mother cut her off.

“I barely knew her well, and we barely talked.”

“I’ll ask Appa.” The girl said as she went straight for her father’s office.

Her father seemed to be a bit more insightful now that she had a name. Chief Kim had a son, had an estranged wife who was a musician. With a little more pressure, she was able to get a name to put to the face. Kim Jihyun. It was unassuming, almost shocking his name wasn’t something grander like Balthazar or Cael or something foreign and beautiful. Jihyun. The more she said his name when she was alone, the more she could accept it.

Kim Jihyun.

He had a name…

She did a little more digging because she couldn’t help herself, she wanted to know more about him. But this time at school. It didn’t matter that she went to an all girls high school one of these girls probably knew him.

And she was right, one girl, a freshman knew Jihyun from church and said he sung in the choir for a while. Never in her life had she wanted to go to church, and now she had all the wrong reasons to want to.

She didn’t understand it, her parents were Christian but didn’t attend church, and yet she went to a Catholic all girls school. So she waited a few days before approaching her mother again, asking why they didn’t go to church, urging her to go with her to Sunday mass at a church nearly twenty minutes driving distance.

The plan was a success, she stepped into the place, dressed demurely with her gleaming dark chocolate hair braided loosely and draped over her shoulder. She had gone through a lot of effort to put makeup on to look like she was wearing none at all.

She did see him, Jihyun, sitting with father during the sermon and she barely listened. The surrounding atmosphere seemed so tense and somber standing next to the man. Like his dark shadow seemed to loom over the boy and tried to smother whatever radiance he had. And Jihyun seemed to submit to it. 

After the service, her mother spoke. “I should have known you went through all of this because of a boy.” The woman said placing a hand on her shoulder. “Since we’ve come so far… let’s go introduce ourselves.”

“Eomma… no.” She whispered back feeling panicked and shy and embarrassed. Usually confident this seemed to happen lately when the blue-haired boy was concerned.

But it was too late it was happening.

Here she was standing with her mother and her father in front of Kim and Jihyun. The introductions happened without much of a hitch though she stuttered her greeting and it came out rather mousy.

“Chief Kim, this is my daughter Jeong Chaeyeon.” Her father said and put ruffled her hair (like she was some scrappy kid) as she bowed and greeted them.

“She favors her mother, she’s quite pretty.” The other man responded. “And well-mannered. My son Kim Jihyun.” He said giving the boy time to bow. “He should be about her age. He’s getting ready for his exams next year.”

“Good luck on the tests, they are tough but I know you can do it.” Chaeyeon said turning her eyes to Jihyun and making sure she didn’t sound too excited or not sincere enough.

The boy’s eyes narrow a fraction, even though his polite smile hadn’t wavered. It was like he was confused as to why a girl he’d never met would cheer him on with that kind of confidence. “Thank you, good luck in yours as well. Abeoji, I’m going to go find Jumin…” His eyes went to the girl and then her parents as he politely excused himself.

She went home giddy having spoken to the boy, wished him luck on his exams and hoped to see him more.

Sundays kept passing, and she kept going, continued to go to church well after her father and mother stopped attending. She’d see Chief Kim and Jihyun often but it seemed like Kim was really the only one that seemed to notice her, making sure to kindly greet her when they did cross paths.

****

“Chaeyeon’s been obsessed with this boy lately.” One of her friends said as she slipped her arm under Chae’s limp one as they walked and leaning forward to talk to her friend walking on the opposite side of her. “She does all the way out to this catholic church every Sunday. It’s almost scary how determined she is.”

“Omo… that’s what you’ve been doing?” The other girl gasped. “That’s a little unhealthy… wouldn’t that make you a stalker?”

Chaeyeon snatched her arms out of both of their grips. “I’m not a stalker. It’s not like I’m following him home. It makes me feel bad if you say it like that.” Her arms crossed over her red uniform.

“So you aren’t a stalker… but you are scary Chaeyeon.” The first girl wrapped her arms around her neck as they walked to a cafe.

“Ah… Isn’t that that boy you like? Blue hair?” The second friend smacked her arm to get her attention and pointed across the street.

When Chaeyeon looked, she did see Jihyun and another woman, older that favored him.

“Is that his mother? She’s so pretty…” She could hear one of them say but he seemed to have this smile that she’d never seen, it reached his eyes and warmed her heart. She watched as he leaned forward talking slowly to her.

“Aren’t you going over there and talk to him Chaeyeon?” The second girl said taking her arm and giving her a small shake to snap her back to reality.

“No…” She said shaking her head and motioning for them to keep walking. “From what I’ve heard. It’s not very often he spends time with his mother. I don’t know why but he seems happy now. I don’t want to interrupt that.”

“Oh daebak… She’s so mature now that she has a boyfriend.”

“Ya!” Chaeyeon went to swing at one of them with her bag playfully and they both went squealing and running. She looked back at Jihyun walking arm and arm with his mother and smiled.

****

It happened so suddenly, a year just before she was getting ready to graduate from high school. The fire. When she heard that Jihyun’s mother’s house caught fire with Jihyun and his mother inside bile rose to her throat and though she was relieved that Jihyun survived… his mother died.

She couldn’t imagine what that was like to lose his mother just as he’d gotten closer to her. Just as that beautiful kind woman was starting to fill him to the brim with the love he seemed to lack.

For days before the funeral, she laid awake and cried. She cried because she passed trying to protect her son, loving him to the very end. She cried for his mother that she had essentially abandoned him to do that and she cried for Jihyun who lost his mother just as he started to know her.

It was the closest to insane she felt, she was shedding tears for these people that she didn’t know well and didn’t even know her. Her tears wasn’t going to make that situation better. It wasn’t like she’d lost a family member of her own… but it _felt_ that way.

When the day came for the memorial service and the first day, she showed up with her parents, all of which dressed in black. They approached the photo of the deceased, her smile seemed warm and soft with two black ribbons over the frame. Chaeyeon pressed her lips together so hard her lips paled as she contained herself. She went down on her knees and bowed her head to the floor. Her parent followed her example, wanting to be united in sharing their condolences. She turned to her right, and she saw Jihyun, sitting looking dead eyed and ghost white.

She went down to her knees again in front of him and bowed as she’d done to the photograph. His eyes moved then watching her before mirroring her.

“I’m so sorry about your loss.” Her eyes meeting his for the first time. They lit up briefly with recognition, like he knew who she was.

“Thank you for coming.” His head dropped again as they rose to stand to allow others to give their condolences.

The next two days of the mourning, she was left to wonder and worry about him. Wondering how he was holding up through all of this. Did he eat well? Did he sleep well? With the way she carried on her parents were concerned if she was sick how she moped around.

She waited a few Sundays before going back to church, she looked and scanned the whole congregation and didn’t see him. Every week she’d come, and he wasn’t there.

Jihyun didn’t come back after that.

****

The next time she heard about Jihyun was a year after she graduated and got accepted into a university. Chief Kim had called her father and wanted for them to have dinner, for the sole purpose of a matseon. This was what she was hoping for when she appealed to Chief Kim and greeted him at church prior everything seemed to go to shit. Though now it felt like a nuisance… but not to her, more so to Jihyun.

Though a matseon was normally a blind date set by the parents or a matchmaker, this could hardly be called a ‘arranged blind date’ because here she and both of her parents were, standing in the foyer of Chief Kim’s home as he tried to wrangle his teenage son to be polite to her.

Needless to say Jihyun wasn’t having it, he seemed tense and irritated by every word of praise he got from his father and praise he gave Chaeyeon. She could only sit there feeling ashamed because at one point she wanted this, expected this. Chae sat there pushing her food around her plate and softly responding to comments made directly to her, her parents seemed to do the rest.

She could hear her mother mentioned that she was heavily involved in ballet but she was studying fashion and wanted to be a designer and she thought, she might as well not even be sitting there. It took one badly placed comment about Jihyun wanting to study ‘photography out of nowhere when he never even held a camera’ for him to stand up from the table.

“This is insane.” He said his eyes rolling skyward. “We are too young to be thinking about getting married Abeoji. We both are in college and don’t even have jobs yet and we are talking about settling down? I’m not going to marry her for you or anybody else.”

“Jihyun, you come back here!” The older man watched as he left the table and went marching up the stairs like the devil was nipping at his heels. She felt a little hurt but she couldn’t help but understand where he was coming from. How could he get to know someone when he was still trying to find himself and establish who he is as a person? “I’m sorry… My son has been like that late-”

“It’s alright Chief Kim-nim.” She taking a small breath, trying to defuse the situation a bit. “But I suppose he has a point. I’ve only been in college for less than a year. It’s way too soon for me to think about marriage so seriously. If we are both single afterwards when we are a bit older, let’s revisit this.” Chaeyeon bowed apologetically.

It was the best thing she could do, let Jihyun go and end it at that moment.

He was a girlhood crush.

****

“For a formal date set up between our families… this seems a bit too casual.”

“I’m a non-traditional kind of guy… besides I don’t think you’d like the idea of a traditional matseon… me sitting at dinner telling you my annual salary.”

“You’re right… I think that would make me uncomfortable.” Chaeyeon replied tucking a strand of brown hair behind her ear looking up at her date.

Now twenty-four, she’d graduated but was working for a dance company. She toured with no sign in slowing down and that’s probably what prompted her parents to have her meet with this guy. The man was insanely handsome and successful, a computer programmer turned owner to his own company. Daehyun was tanned and had nice hair, and when he smiled his eyes seemed to tinkle and he had these cute dimples.

She liked him. Well probably not as much as her parents would have liked.

Though she was sure he just liked her about as much. She could see them being friends or maybe more much later. But she had to give the man his due credit for taking her out to an exhibit instead of sitting in some fancy restaurant or hotel rattling off and crunching numbers.

“Didn’t take you for the art type though.” She said looking at the pieces.

“Not so much me but I figured you’d like it.” He replied back admiring them as well. They walked and talked about the boring stuff, the numbers of their earnings, their careers, what they could contribute to marriage. Then when things felt stale, they swapped stories of their childhood, days in college and laughed at how wild or ridiculous they were.

They came to a part of the exhibit that was mostly photographs of scenery, photos of brooks and meadows and the sky and sun. Shots of the ocean that made it seem like the sky above and the water below met. They all were breathtaking views, she turned to gaze over her shoulder noticing that he was looking at his phone with a slight curse under his breath.

“If you need to make a call, go ahead. I won’t think it’s rude and you are a busy man.”

“Then I will take this and I’ll be right back.” He said with a soft smile, probably relieved the girl understood.

She looked around some more at each photo, it seemed like each shot had a bit of the artist’s passion bleeding from it but it was controlled and serene. There was one photo that she stared at for a while. A rocky surface, probably a mountain of some sort and the sky littered with stars, streaks of pinks and greens and purples lit the picture. It seemed unreal, the entire milky way in a single shot.

Daehyun had returned to at this point and was standing next to her while she looked at it.

“Daebak…” She tilted her head still looking at it. “Do you think it was very difficult to take this photo? It’s beautiful, so I imagine they stood there for so long trying to get the angle just perfect.”

“It was difficult.” That voice wasn’t Daehyun. “But when I had the perfect shot, it was worth it.”

She turned to look and actually yelled, surprised. She recognized this man immediately though he was taller and a little broader than when she saw him as an eighteen-year-old. He seemed startled by her reaction initially.

“Oh my god… you scared me. I thought you were someone else.” She said clutching her chest, eyes darting over his face. He smiled pleasantly and she couldn’t get over how he grew so much and managed to still be handsome.

“I didn’t mean to startle you like that.” His brows shot up still surprised by her expression. “I’m the photographer who’s responsible for this part of the exhibit.”

“Oh… Nice to meet you, Jeong Chaeyeon.” She said bowing, he didn’t seem to recognize her.

“I’m V.” He said bowing in return. So he was going by V now? She tried not to emote to that new pseudonym he was going by. “Nice to meet you Jeong Chaeyeon-ssi, thank you for coming.” He said softly, politely but the soft tender lilt of his voice made her flustered.

“Ah… so how did you manage to take a photo like this?” She said still gaping like a fish and looking back to the photo. He went on about aperture and shutter speed, how he traveled specifically for that photograph.

“V?” She heard to the side of her and turned to see a woman with green eyes and blonde hair. This strange woman was too beautiful to be a real person… that’s what she initially thought. She had kind eyes and looked like an innocent doll. Like she was delicate and would shatter to pieces if mishandled. Chaeyeon probably owned at least seven dolls that resembled her in the past. She was fine-boned and petite, long curls that fell well below her waist, the hint of a womanly figure under her modest demure... yet irritatingly elegant and cute dress.

“Ah Rika, we’ll be leaving soon.” V said with a small smile. Chaeyeon’s eyes darted between them in confusion. “Miss Chaeyeon, this is Rika my fiancee.” He said slipping past her to put an arm around her. Did they ever look picture perfect, two photogenically beautiful people standing together... she was luckily able to bite down the swell of jealousy that swam circles in her gut. Oddly enough, she didn't know who she was more jealous of...

“Nice to meet you.” Rika? Another alias? Where they spies or something? It seemed like perfect timing because Daehyun had returned looking just as perplexed as she was in this situation. “I’m on a date… we were just about to leave though.” She said wrapping an arm around one of Daehyun’s arm.

“Yoo Daehyun.” He said briefly looking down at her hand on him and then back to V. In her mind she was sending him signals: go with it, be cool Daehyun. “We should get going…” His voice wavered like he was asking a question. He extended a hand briefly and shook V’s. His sleeve hitched up and Chaeyeon felt her eyes bulge. Purple and yellow marks around his wrist.

V must have seen her eyes because when the handshake ended he pulled the cuff of his black blazer over the offensive marks. “We should go as well… There’s some last minute things Rika and I need to take care of.” His eyes darted quickly to one side, seeming like he'd been very much caught.

“Yeah… right. Again, it was nice meeting you… your work is magnificent.” She said blinking rapidly, she could smell her own deception as she tried to pretend she didn’t see those bruises.

Her and Daehyun wind up ending the date at the exhibit. The mood had pretty much been spoiled... and it was all her fault. Now her brain was concocting trying to assemble that whole meeting and things she probably should have said to him right there. God she felt like a bumbling idiot and you'd think after seven years she'd would have herself together. Before they left though, she bought a small postcard sized print of that photo she liked. Daehyun sent her home with the promise that he'd call, hash out another date to meet.

Good. Being alone gave her plenty of time to think over the bruises she saw and what they could have meant.

****

Chaeyeon unpacked her last bag after arriving from the airport. The last two years had been a period of healing and self-discovery for her. She sustained an injury and had to quit professional dancing for good but it did open the door to her second passion of designing. She packed away her last suitcase and flopped on her bed and turning over to one side to look at her window. There was a string of photos, her in her high school uniform, of her mother and father, her grandparents, and V’s milky way postcard.

What was he up to now? Probably still taking amazing shots and photos. Wrapping her arms around her pillow she just stared at it with a small smile.

She took that time to rest her mind and let an hour go by. She stirred after she realized she had fallen asleep, fumbling for her phone. It made a strange noise, a beeping sound specifically, that she’d never heard it make. Groggily, she watched the processes run on the screen only for a message to come through.

****

This was the dumbest most reckless thing she’d ever done. If her parents found out, they’d probably force her to come back home with them until she married. She'd done the thing that her parents had told her never to do since she was very small. Don't trust strangers and don't get into strange cars... Of course that came with the 'even if they offer you candy' bit. This UNKOWN, hadn't even offered her that to get into this strange car to be driven to a 'remote location up in the mountains'.

What's worse, she agreed to come here... still jet lagged from her flight from New York... She didn't even get a decent lunch that wasn't airplane food.

Someone removed the blindfold, and she was looking a pair of mint green eyes. The man dressed absurdly like a fairy tale prince was actually handsome even if he might have been a bit of a creep. Though he looked at her in amazement staring into her dark brown eyes in a way that made her… uncomfortable.

This Ray person, the one that asked her to come here wanted her to test a mobile game he created. The entire scenario made her suspicious, but he seemed to desperate for her help and she caved in. But now whole situation was shady after the encounter with the driver and his ‘if you don’t feel comfortable with the blindfold, you can take these drugs and sleep instead’ bit. Maybe she should have opened the car door on the drive here and rolled out... This had danger written all over it.

He must have sensed her tension and decided to turn his pinpoint focus onto her new lodgings, telling Chaeyeon that if she ever needed anything to ask. Told her to not to tell the AIs that they were part of a game or it would end it with a ‘game over’. He left her there to get started on the game… and she watched him leave with wary eyes. 

“Weirdo.” She mumbled under her breath. “What would that make me for accepting this? A bigger weirdo… Aishh!” She smacked her lips and slumped into a chair near a window to see if she could recognize anything outside. All she could gather was that there was a garden down below and the house or building was surrounded with trees and other natural sights. The only thing she could deduct that they weren’t in Seoul anymore.

She tried to make a call out only for the signal to be dead. Ray took her phone for a moment to install the game so she assumed he did something to it for it to not be able to call out. So she had no choice but to go along with it.

The app opens and immediately threw her into a chat room.

 

One of the characters’ name is V.

****

This couldn’t be a coincidence. It couldn’t. That there was a girl named Rika as a character in the story that was engaged to V, a photographer.

So the next time Ray visited her, she squinted and asked him if they were really AI. All of them seemed so real, like talking to real people and not just programmed text. She pressed really hard, only for Ray’s eyes to darken as he explained he used the names. That they were indeed just coding and weren’t real.

Another thing that was troubling was that the next time she brought up being able to go home, it changed from ‘until the end of the game’ to him not wanting her to leave… ever… And instead of feeling anger… she felt guilt.

Ray seemed to be lonely, desperate for love and starved of it. He didn’t eat well, he didn’t sleep well, and it seemed he didn’t have anyone there to look after him when he had habits that bad. He’d often come to her with bags under his eyes, looking exhausted and running on less two hours of sleep a night. He seemed hopelessly and madly obsessed with her and she would turn him down at every turn, only for him to come back crawling on his hands and knees and never wanting her to leave.

It was sad. She grew fond of him as though he were a younger brother, someone who needed to be taken care of and worried about. Softening to him only made him want to cling to her more wretchedly. Chaeyeon hated this, hated this guilt, hated that no one seemed to care but her and feeling helpless to help him without enabling his obsession.

He’d given her the choice to join the group to stay here with him and she never would agree to that. Though his voice seemed so needy she couldn’t say no right away. Not to Ray. She told him she’d think about it. And the fourth day came, the day when she was supposed to make her choice and she had already made it in her heart but told him she needed more time.

After a few minutes had passed, Ray came up to her room. He’d finished the preparations saying all she needed to do was chose, that she could think as they went down stairs. He blindfolded her and took her to in a room filled with computers, the light from the screens filling the room.

And he pushed a glass bottle into her palm. All she would need to do is drink, it would be sweet, and she’d be part of their family, that she could stay with him forever. In paradise.

She broke at that moment.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she clutched the bottle to her chest shaking her head, her eyes leaking onto the floor. He seemed alarmed by this reaction.

“I can’t… I don’t… I don’t want this.” She said looking up at him, Ray needed someone to care for him the way his Savior couldn’t and he couldn’t see that he was being used and she was helpless to do anything to stop it. “I can’t… I can’t…” Her chin tucked to her chest, she felt his gloved fingers stroke over her cheek.

“I’m sorry I made you cry. I’ll never do that again and you won’t ever feel like this again if you drink. Join us… be with me Chaeyeon. This is the only way I can keep you.”

There was a suddenly there was a knock, and the mood soured even more. He seemed irritated by the interruption and she didn’t seem to stop crying yet, but she was relieved.

A cloaked man stepped into the room. “There’s an emergency. We have a problem with the servers.”

“Now? Of all times now?” Ray said through clenched teeth, he looked like a wild animal who could attack at that moment from the taut line of his shoulders. But looked warily over the figure, like he was confused for a moment. “I’ve never… seen you before.”

“The savior wants to see you, you have to go Ray-ssi.” It responded cooly, no emotion in his voice.

“I know that voice…” Ray seemed even more suspicious.

“You should go.” She held out the bottle to him and he looked between the blue liquid and her face.

“You’re right. Before I do...” He said putting his hand over hers covering the cork, turning to look at the hooded man in the room. “Take off your hood.”

“Very well.” His hands came up as he approached the two but his hand shot out and shoved Ray hard, pushing him a couple of feet away and in the process, causing the bottle to fall onto the ground and shatter.

“Chaeyeon! Don’t drink anything he gives you!”

She startled and bumped backwards into Ray’s computer desk.

“The elixir!” Ray said falling to his knees, his hands in the spilled concoction.

The hooded man grabbed her by her elbow. “We have to leave!”

“What… wait…”

Then his hand came up and pushed his hood off his head and her heart dropped into her stomach. It was like seeing a ghost. His blue hair and his blue eyes, she’d never forgotten and could never forget, this time his hair was longer and wilder. His face thinner and more gaunt, lines of exhaustion under his eyes. “It’s me, V. Jihyun. You have to keep moving!” 

She reached out and her fingers touched the front of his robe. “You’re really V? So the AI… it was you?”

“AI? What do you mean?” He cursed seeing that the commotion was drawing attention. “I’ll ask later.” He pulled her forward and out of the room.

“No! Don’t you dare take her away from me!” She heard Ray scream behind her and she turned to look back, he was still on his knees and he looked crazed with wild eyes and a heaving chest. But he had tears streaming down his face, and it twisted her gut to see it, to hear his cry. When she turned to look back at V, a hand grabbed her other arm in a bruising grip. “No… no no… I won’t let you have her V.”

More people started to come and Jihyun looked backwards at her and Ray. She saw his face twist in regret so she took the step for him. She let go of his hand and she pushed him hard. “Go, V!”

“What a-”

“Just please go V!” She turned to look at him with pleading eyes. “We both can’t get out of here.” She saw him slowly nod, processing it, and accepting it.

“I’ll come back for you. I’ll save you...” Was the last words she heard from him as she watched him break through the crowding people and gunning it.

“Catch him! Don’t let him get away!” Ray pulled her to his chest, she felt sick and seething with fury. The cloaked figures took off after him leaving the two of them alone. She watched his face as he crumpled. “I shouldn’t have never opened that door… why? Why? Why?” He said heaving like he couldn’t breathe tears freely spilling from his eyes.

“The RFA…” Chaeyeon started to speak, her chin dipped and she looked at him without turning her head. “They weren’t AI… you lied to me.” She scoffed. “And I wanted to believe you.”

“I had to say that… the savior told me to. It was the only way that I could get you here.” Ray immediately confessed and at that moment she realized how he couldn’t be deceitful if he wanted to, the savior was the one pulling the strings after all. “Tell me you aren’t hurt… please tell me you are okay…” He reached out for her shoulders.

“I’m fine.” She said looking off to the side, her anger seeming to be quelled and redirected. This savior…

“Thank god…” He breathed in relief. “But the elixir is gone… just when I thought I could be happy with you… it’s ruined. I just wanted to make you happy Chaeyeon… but it’s ruined.” He said weeping in a way it made her soft and weak. She looked skyward as his head dropped down on her collarbone and she reached up to stroke his hair. Her mind going back to some conversations she’d had in the chat rooms. They were real people and now she’d unknowingly drug them into this mess, this game that his savior wanted to play.

“You hacked the app…” 707 really did create the app and Ray was the hacker.

“You don’t trust me anymore?” He said raising his head and looking at her face with a broken expression. “So they are the good guys to you instead of me? I-I only did what I was told to do… please believe in me, trust me… don’t doubt me now… I’m so sorry for lying to you.” His voice crackling under the emotions.

Within seconds he was able to blink back his tears. “I’ll let you rest… I have to report to the savior about this. As much as I want to stay with you… as sad and anxious as I feel. I have to warn her.”

“Right…” She watched him pick up the blindfold again.

“Chaeyeon… can I trust you?” She looked up into his face and saw him blink hard and shake it off. “No… I’ll trust you. I know you wouldn’t betray me. The savior will make this better… she’ll fix this.”

****

Everyone in the chat room was aware that she was in a dangerous situation. Once suspicious of her they were now concerned. V especially, he seemed riddled with the guilt of having to leave her with Mint Eye.

While this happened she finally got to meet the notorious ‘savior’ and she recognized her through the mask immediately. Rika. The same girl from the art exhibit, the same that was going to marry V, the same Rika that supposedly killed herself. She was also to stay with the savior for a few days.

Ray initially didn’t seem to like that idea but being the obedient servant to her, compiled without a single argument. She approached her gracefully, welcoming her and Chaeyeon immediately rejected her. She didn’t have a ‘darkness’ as she called it. Well she did but to give into that darkness, whatever it was, was unhealthy.

She told her that she had eyes like the stars, ‘no wonder V likes you’. Rika said they were so similar when they were nothing alike.

Stranger still was the sexual advances, the fleeting touches and embraces. Chaeyeon, more often than not would, wouldn't push her hands away. She didn’t want to anger Rika too much for the most part all she could do was comply with as much as she was comfortable with. Every single time her fingers would touch her skin, she’d think about what she’d done to Ray or she’d think about whatever she might have done to V and it made her physically ill.

The Savior try to dress her like some sort of doll, like all of this was normal. She did thankfully allow her to go on the messenger and talk to everyone and reassure them that she was fine.

What kept her going was the thought that V would come like he promised. He kept promising, and she believed in him.

Just as she was starting to feel stir crazy, Rika took her out to the garden as some last stitch effort to get her to join them. Join her. Be by her side as an equal. And as much as Chaeyeon wanted to tell her shove that proposal up her ass, she minded her manners and humored her. She let her talk and say her piece without a word of judgement or prejudice... even though she thought them.

They didn't remain in the garden long before she heard a voice behind them and turned to see V’s face. Streaked with sweat, mouth open panting like he ran there. As glad as she had been to see him, it was ill-fated timing. Everything slowed down to a crawl as she watched Rika's head turn and her eyes land on V, as he stepped out of the bushes.

“V! Run! It isn’t safe here!” Chaeyeon felt Rika’s grip on her wrist tighten.

“Chaeyeon… are you alright?” He was winded and looking determined and brave. “I can’t let you get any more involved in this. So let her go Rika… let her go because it’s me that you want right?”

“Long time right V?” She said with a sick twist of her mouth. “Came to see me, the person who’s dead because of you. It’s so odd looking at the man that killed me.”

“There was nothing else I could do. I had to tell everyone you died.” He said evenly.

“I can’t believe I’ve ever loved someone like you with all my heart.” There was a stinging barb in her tone, sharp and aimed to hurt.

“Just let her go.” He said pleading with her, completely to her mercy and her eyes darted between the two ex-lovers. “I’ll take her place.”

“V… no…” Had he lost his mind?! “I’m not going to let you do that.” While it seemed to amuse Rika because she laughed like it was some sort of joke.

V didn’t look at her, instead his eyes tried to lock with Rika’s. An act of pure desperation. “Rika please, I’ll do whatever you want… I’ll do anything… everything you want.”

“I can’t believe you…” She said laughing even more. “You’re unbelievable, thinking I still want you. If you want to stay drowning in our past, I won’t stop you… but don’t try to drag me down with you. Chaeyeon is my friend… better than you in every way. So no thank you on that trade.”

She shot Rika a disgusted look. They were never friends and almost bristled in the way that Rika addressed her like they were.

“She’s innocent. This has nothing to do with her so please don’t drag her into this.”

“V, she can think for herself…” Rika said rounding to look at her. “She’s not like you, she can understand my vision.”

“Your plan is-”

“Wrong? Not right?” She looked at him over her shoulder.

“It’s a temporary satisfaction but if that’s what you want, I’m yours.” V postured himself, letting himself submit to her. His arms went out to his sides, open but tired. Tired of fighting this. “Please just let Chaeyeon go.” 

Rika’s face twisted in revulsion. “I’d knew you’d do this… that you’d come back. I should have really blinded you back then. Fine, V. I’ll give you what you want… full sensory deprivation. Call it a gift from your past love.”

“Are you going to…” He raised his head with hope shining in his eyes, like he finally broke through.

“Guards?” She raised a voice a little and snapped her fingers.

“When…” In seconds he was surrounded on all sides. One grabbing him from behind and other's pushing him to the ground.

“Jihyun!” Chaeyeon tried to pull her hand away and successfully snatched her hand.

“No need to call his name anymore… he might not ever hear again. No one calls me Rika here but you’ll be my special exception, I’ll let you call my name.” Seeing her tears, she pet her hair, like she was some sort of pet. “Let’s go inside, I’ve prepared some warm milk for you.”

“Rika, please.” She could still hear V begging, seeing his eyes glassy and wet. “Not her, don’t do this to her.”

“I can make her happy, and I think we’d both be happier if you were gone.” Chaeyeon couldn’t help but crumble a little. She was scared to say anything else… scared of what else Rika would do to V. She seemed to understand now, the bruising on his wrist years ago, her blinding him? She abused him that’s why he was so submissive to her. “You’re a ghost V… stay away from me and stop haunting me. Stay in my horrible past where you belong.”

And Rika walked her back into the building.

Once she as alone, she tried to call V on the app, he didn’t answer. She figured they confiscated his phone.

He was briefly in the chat, thankfully he was still alive but he seemed not quite himself, there were typos and spaces in places they didn’t belong. But she got the gist: Beware of Rika.

****

“Relax Chaeyeon… I haven’t killed him. He’s been saying the same thing for hours.” Rika said after seeing her looking anxious. “Begging me to let you go offering to let me hurt him.”

“I want to see him… please.” She said looking up as Rika approached her. “I’m anxious… I have to know he’s alright.”

“Alright.” She said softly, her face full of pity. “I tried to warn you that he’s no good for you… he’ll destroy you like he tried to do me. But if you can rest easier, I’ll do it. But before I do that for you… I want to ask you something. Do you think V’s love is right? Love that burns hotter than the sun?”

“You never truly understood him then.” She said shaking her head. “With you, maybe it was… but it was never supposed to be. He wanted to love you earnestly and give you all the love you missed out on. The two of you were very alike in that way. He knew how it felt to be lonely and he knew what it was like to be loved so intensely in a moment… how it could save a life. There are just some things that love can’t fix… trying to fix you with love was like putting a bandage over a deep wound.” 

Rika’s eyes darkened and looked at her with a moment of contempt. “You think you know him so well.”

“You know him better, but I knew him longer.” She said looking at her with the very same look before Rika switched and smiled at her.

“I’ll take you to him... then we can proceed from there. I assure you I could be so much better to you than V. I wouldn’t try to destroy your dark side, I’d love it because it was a part of you. But you have to make a choice Chaeyeon.”

She steeled herself. Seven was coming soon, he knew where they were. She’d done a good job of keeping Rika distracted…

The basement was outfitted with all the amenities of a modern day dungeon. The walls were cool, dark, and damp and spending only a few seconds here was suffocating. When she finally did see him, he was slumped down on the floor of his cell, gone and out of it. He could barely hold his head up and his head lolled against the wall behind him.

“Lovely night for torture, hm?” Rika wrapped her soft pale fingers around the cold iron bars a gleeful smile. Her mouth turned up into such an intense showing of teeth it was unnerving to imagine what she could have been possibly thinking. Chaeyeon asked anyway.

“What are you going to do to him?” She was worried and already dropped to her knees near V. He was sitting too far to reach through the bars, close but not close enough to touch.

“I’m going to give him what he wants, what he’s been begging for. I’m going to make him disappear before our eyes, and he won't be able to darken my doorway ever again.”

He groaned and looked up, his eyes blurry and unseeing.

“He’s really out of it, I guess Ray might have gone overboard with the elixir.” She said tsking a little while Chaeyeon turned to look at her. “He doesn’t even recognize me. I did tell him to give him a small dose, enough so he can at least talk back.”

“You drugged him? It’s the same elixir that you tried to get me to drink?” She looked back at him reaching through the bars for his hand. “Jihyun… please be okay…” She wanted to get in there and help him somehow.

“You don’t really need to drink it though, do you Chaeyeon? I don’t want to control you and I like you just like this. Besides the dose that I would have given you wouldn’t have made you like this.” She opened his gilded cage and Chaeyeon rushed inside sitting beside him and pulling him to her chest. He seemed too pale, in too much pain and incoherent. He was delirious and his skin was cold and clammy.

“He needs a doctor Rika… he’s going to die if you keep him like this.”

“Let him die then… he should just die.”

“Chaeyeon…” V was able to to speak his fingers gripping hers. “Please run away from here… You need to get out…”

“V… I’m not leaving here without you.” She said close to his ear, but he only shook his head. “Seven should be here soon and we will leave here together.” Whispering to him so Rika couldn’t hear.

“No…” He said, his throat so dry he had to cough. “Dangerous… you have to leave me.”

“You’re the dangerous one V… I have no plans on hurting her. She will tell you herself. Show this ghost how good I’ve been to you.”

“Rika! Stop it! Stop torturing V!” She snapped fed up with the blond’s arrogant posturing. “Haven’t you done enough?”

“Please Rika… our love… obsession… it should end with me…” He said struggling finally starting to come to a little. “Don’t bring Chaeyeon into what should be… between us…”

“Our love? There’s no us V… it’s just me now. I’m doing what I want… being who I was always meant to be. I don’t care about you.” Her green eyes snapped up to the other girl’s face. “Tell him Chaeyeon. You know about what he’s done to me, how stressed I was because of him… how much I suffered because of him.”

“You are out of your mind. What kind of fairy tale world are you living in?” Fed up with this ‘darkness’ and ‘devil’ business. “Rika… you need to get help.”

“You didn’t listen… to a single word I’ve said… you don’t understand me at all.” Rika whispered, looking crushed by those words. Her eyes welling up with tears. “You are going to chose V…”

“It’s too dangerous to stay with Rika…” He looked up at her worried, fearful of what Rika would do to her. “I can’t let anything bad happen to you…”

“And you chose her… over me...” Rika swayed on her feet, like she’d been hit with a soul crushing revelation. “Chaeyeon… me and you really aren’t alike at all… you and V are the same.”

She wanted to roll her eyes in that moment, she’d told her this entire time she was nothing like her but she looked down at V’s face. “Nothing is going to happen to me V… let’s focus on you right now. You are in a lot more danger than I am.”

“There is a devil in me… I’m filled with sorrow, fear and hatred… and this how it’s supposed to be. It’s all I know. No one could ever understand me… I know that now. If I step into the light… I’ll die…”

“Rika…” V said finding a bit of strength to sit up on his own without leaning on Chaeyeon. He looked her in the eye, willing his eyes to focus.

“Don’t call my name with that mouth of yours… I hate it.”

“Think about our past… the memories we have with one another… we were obsessed with each other.”

“Obsessed? You don’t even know what obsession is… all you know is love. I was the one who was obsessed.”

“No.” He groaned out, in pain and dizzy from the drugs. “I was obsessed with you Rika. I thought I had to love you unconditionally.” Chaeyeon went to open her mouth to tell him not to provoke her anymore. “No she needs to know this… I need to say this.”

“What?”

“I told you I loved you… because I thought you needed that from me… I was obsessed with you and I called it love. I see that now. I think I’ve always known and never wanted to see it.”

“... Are you kidding me? You were just obsessed… you weren’t in love with me.”

“I did love you…”

She had a first eye witness to Rika’s cool graceful demeanor cracking in half. “Don’t change it now! Which is it?! Did you love me? Or were you obsessed? Which is it V?!”

His eyes fluttered as he looked down in shame. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

“Answer me! You said you loved me like the sun!” She screamed, on the verge of mania. “You said you’d love me even if I tested you, if I tortured you, if I ruined you… that wasn’t real?”

He closed his eyes like he didn’t wish to say more, or he couldn’t. Rika stared at him intensely. “So why are you even here then? Obsession or Love? It was a lie? Is that it?”

Chaeyeon reached out for him seeing him start to tip a little and she caught him before his head could hit the concrete floor. “Oh god V…”

“Chae… please… not safe…”

Rika’s hand shot to her mouth as she fell to her knees. “You can’t even see me right now.” The way she screamed was ear piercing. Her eyes looking into nothing, tears freely falling as she became unhinged. “You said you loved me! You said you loved me! You swore… you said you’d always love me! I’ve become an obsession? That’s it?” She wasn’t even talking to either of them.

“How wretched I am… no one has ever loved me since the day I was born? I thought I felt it… that light that nearly killed me.”

 

“Psst… Hey.” Chaeyeon’s head turned to see a head of red hair sticking out from around the corner. “Shh…" 

He was finally here. Slowly she stood and helped V up, nearly having to drag him. “Thank fucking god Seven… we need to get him out of here. He’s drugged, and he’s not doing so good.”

“Right, let’s get out before she notices. Keep it down too.” Seven slipped his other arm over his shoulder and the two of them slipped out of the building through some secret way. When they got outside, Seven tried to move faster.  “Shit… okay V… on my back. We are gonna have to run.”

She let go and watched as Seven effortlessly picked V up on his back and started running with him. They ran out to a car, and he placed the older male down and in the backseat.

She climbed in the back with him as Seven slipped behind the wheel and skidded off into the night.

“Chaeyeon… sorry…” V said, his eyes still closed and still delirious.

“I’m alright.” She shushed him.

****

She felt worried, anxious and angry at all parties involved. Angry at Rika and Ray for drugging V and angry at V for protecting Rika and not going to be treated. Instead, they went out to a cabin a long way from the Mint Eye headquarters, far from the city. Seven had his work cut out for him, he treated V the best he could and had to set up his computer to going to war with Ray over the coordinates of their location.

Eventually, the fog in V’s mind from the drugs started to lift and he seemed to worry over her even more. Chaeyeon stayed close to him. She was fine… though he was still under the influence of the elixir and was still concerned about if she had been hurt or not.

“I’m fine… you need to rest, you’re shaking.” She said pushing him back down on the bed looking over at Seven’s back as he worked.

“What happened with the messenger, Luciel?” V looked at his phone to see the app was glitched.

“The Hacker… but I was just about to step out of the room so I can focus on this.” The red head looked back at them. “Watch V for me.”

“Yep, can do.” She said sitting down on the bed, watching as 707 put his headphones on and scooping up his laptop.

“V doesn’t seem to know what his limitations are and has the tendency to overdo it so keep an eye on him.” He briefly gave V, the ‘I’m watching you’ hand gesture as he slipped out of the room.

As soon as the door closed, she couldn’t even get two words in before he was apologizing. She watched him with a head tilt as he tried to take responsibility for Rika’s actions. He was the reason she was like that, it was his fault she got involved. He seemed show so much trepidation for everyone around him; her and the RFA.

She looked down at her hands before looking back up at him. “You are still recovering… it’s fine, alright? I need you to relax and worry about your recovery.”

He looked relieved for a moment, all that apprehension stressed his body to the point of fatigue if the drug wasn’t already responsible. “Rest… you’re right. I should just sleep a little. I’m so tired...” His eyes looking heavier until his eyes closed shut.

“You need me to leave?”

“No… stay with me for a bit. Until I fall asleep.” He opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her reaching for her hand immediately. “If it’s okay with you.”

“I don’t mind.” She said shaking her head and giving his one hand in both of hers and she didn’t leave his side until he couldn’t hold onto her hand anymore.

 

She did get back contact with Ray and she thought if one more person asked if she was alright she might scream. Though she was relieved, he seemed alright even though she was sure he wasn’t. She tried to keep him in the chat for as long as she could, which would at least give Seven a short reprieve from this hacking war the two of them were waging.

It became clear why she was throwing this party… it was for the benefit of Mint Eye, that much was clear when Ray mentioned that they had to ‘save’ these people.

 

Shady cult shit, she thought. As if Korea didn’t have plenty of those.

 

Chaeyeon fell asleep in a wooden chair next to V’s and woke up the next morning stiff and achy, once they made it out of this she was going to soak in a hot bath and get a massage… hell maybe leave the country. Thankfully there was a French press in the kitchen… to which Seven might have actually been a saint for being so prepared… either that or a boy scout.

She made some coffee and brought two cups into the room once she’d heard 707’s voice in the living room area. When she walked in, he stopped midway through his explanation of his side effects until he could fully remove the toxins.

 There was another person standing in the room. “Seven… there’s a strange man in the room.” She said looking between the three of them, to which the hacker snorted.

“This is Madam Vanderwood… my semi-doctor friend.”

“Semi-doctor? Friend?” The man said crossing his arms seeming irritated.

“Because you know first aid.” He said taking his chair, turning it backwards and straddling it. “I’m trusting you Madam doctor.”

“Just what the hell are you doing? This has nothing to do with the agency… they are going to be pissed if they knew you are using resources for this.”

“Shh… it’s fine. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.” Seven whispered.

“Why are you whispering?” He made a face to which annoyance didn’t seem to convey. “Aigoo… This guy… you’re nuts you know that? It’s a wonder you haven’t been ejected a long time ago.”

“I’m too precious~," He said putting his hands on his cheeks and fluttering his eyelashes. “I already promised to be your loyal humble servant for two months for helping me out.”

“Make it three.” He said repulsed by Seven’s cutesy aegyo bullshit.

“No fair, you can’t renege! I said two!” And his hands were now off his face and he was holding up two fingers. Chaeyeon stood in the doorway holding two cups of coffee in her hands just amused by this. Maybe because she hadn’t had a fun exchange like this since the app shut down. It made her miss talking to Jumin, Zen, Jaehee, and Yoosung.

“Three months or no deal.” He didn’t seem to budge, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Ah… 2.5?”

Vanderwood then took a deep breath through his nose. “You don’t get how serious this situation is are you? You lazy bastard.”

“Okay okay, 3 months.” Seven resigned, rolling his eyes.

“Cool, now where’s that kit?” The leather clad agent rubbed his gloved hands together as she looked around for the first aid kit.

“In the trunk. Say can I borrow your taser?” He said shoving his hand out in Vanderwood’s direction and wiggling his fingers.

“Really? Why?”

“For protection.”

“Ugh.”

“It would be better if it was in Chaeyeon’s hands.” Chaeyeon blinked and looked at Seven’s face.

“Wait why me?” She asked.

“Ya! What am I supposed to do without my taser?”

“You are a walking weapon, Madam Vanderwood. Look at poor defenseless Chaeyeon. What she gonna do? Beat down someone with one of those coffee mugs?”

“I have no idea what’s going on right now…” Chaeyeon said to no one in particular, _still_ holding said full cups of coffee.

“I think that was an insult…” Vanderwood finally caved and pulled it off the clip on his belt and put it in Seven’s hand, who took one of her cups from her and put the taser gun in her free hand while mister leather clad agent, went out to get the med kit.

“Just for good measure. Keep that with you. Watch over V and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.” Seven said taking a small sip, it was strange… she didn’t even know he liked coffee. All he seemed to like was Honey Buddha Chips and Ph. D. pepper. Then she thought… between Seven and Ray… those two had horrible eating and sleeping habits. At least Seven could adult a little better.

“I’ll.. do what I can for him. He’s had enough shit happen to him.” She said sitting down and taking her own little sip of her own.

She heard V pad out into the living room, looking guilty… like he’d heard the whole conversation. “Thank you for… wanting to protect me, both of you. Though I can’t help but feel like a burden.”

“Look man,” Seven said already looking up. “Don’t worry about it, you already got on our nerves and we’re over it. Just rest and get better.” There didn’t seem to be a single note of irritation in his voice. He plopped down on the floor near the coffee table in front of his computer and began to roll sleeves up to his elbows. “Now if you don’t mind I gotta take care of this damn hacker… shit… he’s tough.”

“I could help.” Chae said peaking her head over the top of the screen.

“I dunno, can you hack?” He asked already typing away, coding a mile a minute.

“No… but I think I know someone who could.”

****

“I think that might have been the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard someone do…” Daehyun said leaning back on the sofa after she explained where she’d been for a little over a week. “That was unlike you."

“Thanks for coming out here, Seven really needed that extra man power.” She watched him slide down onto the floor in front of Seven and open his own laptop, some fancy modified gaming computer.

“No problem. Though I think I’m going to regret using my personal laptop for this.” He said as started up some command prompts and connecting it to the other computer. Immediately script started flying on the screen. “Shit… you guys are going at it.”

“Uhm hm…” Seven mumbled in response as his eyes were affixed to the screen.

“This hacker… his coding is so… outdated. What’s he doing this on, a Unix?” Daehyun tilted his head and read through the script as it passed. “But he’s so fast and efficient. Who is this?”

“That’s what I want to know.” Seven lifted his head to squint. “I call dibs on him though.”

“Territorial but… okay.” Daehyun grinned and he started typing.

“That’s Ray… um… I don’t know anything about his talent for hacking but he’s a really sweet kid. I want to help get him out of Mint Eye… he’s been taking that drug that they gave V for god knows how long.”

“Definitely. Doing. That.” Seven responded again in fractured sentences. “He’s better than me, no way he should be with Mint Eye. We’ll get him out of there Chaeyeon. I know you are worried about him.”

She nodded and looked towards the room were Vanderwood was treating V, helping him through the effects of the elixir in his system.

“So… that guy in there, isn’t he that photographer guy you like?” Daehyun asked as he watched a bar fill on his screen, only for him to type a command and ‘blocked’ to appear over the loading bar and it reset, a couple times in a matter of seconds. “That V guy… the whole reason we didn’t become a thing?”

“Shouldn’t you be quiet, like Seven?” She crossed her arms wondering why he’d even bring this up now. In front of 707 and possibly for V to hear.

“Oh but I’d rather talk about that. I’m not that skilled of a hacker as this guy.” He jerked his head in his direction. “He’s doing most of the work and I’m catching the slack.”

“You aren’t too bad, just rusty from what I can see.” Seven’s glasses slid down his nose a little so he was looking up at them over the yellow and black striped glasses.

“I was better when I was your age.” The older man said an excited smile, only making his dimples pronounced, looking more puppylike than she’s ever seen him. “Haven’t done anything like this since college.”

“Ahjussi, is the temperature in the room right for you?” Seven smirked back and watched as the man’s smile melt off his face and his eyes squint at the little jab he made.

“Cocky little sucker.” He said making a backhanding motion in the air before getting back to work. The younger one tried unsuccessfully to not laugh, instead snickering. “Ahjussi? This guy…”

“Good to see you two getting along. Let me know if you need me to bring you anything.” She on the other hand did laugh.

“Nah… Vanderwood!” The red headed hacker turned his head briefly to see the man coming out of the bedroom. “This place is kinda messy you think you could~?”

“I’m not your maid!” Sure he said that but began picking up anyway.

****

She’d fallen asleep watching the all out war being waged. When she first stirred, the first thing she thought of was V. Hopefully he was rested and maybe he was feeling better. She knocked on the door to the bedroom and then opened it to find the bed empty. She took out her phone and searched her messages, she could see V was in a chat room.

V: Chaeyeon…  
Chaeyeon: What the hell are you doing?! You should be recovering! Where are you?!  
V: I have to tell Rika something.  
V: My head was so foggy before but now I can think.  
V: Sorry for scaring you. And making you worry all the time.  
Chaeyeon: Where are you V?  
V: I’m… sitting in Luciel’s car.

Chaeyeon was already heading a beeline for the door, piping mad. When she flung the door wide open, she startled all three of the other men in the house and even worse when she slammed it closed. She stomped through the gravel and stopped at the car sure enough seeing him sitting in the backseat. Her anger waned a bit as she opened the passenger door and sat.

“What was this groundbreaking discovery that you made that was so important that you are out of bed?” She said cocking a brow watching him look up from his phone.

“I needed to get out… I felt trapped. All I can hear is her screaming… it was haunting. I can still hear it in my head.” He looked faraway in his own mind. “I never thought it would turn out this way… I thought that when I met Rika, I’d discovered my life’s purpose. I remember when we first met how her eyes sparkled when she saw my photo of the sun. She said that the sun, was the mother of all life and I knew it was fate. No one understood the meaning of it until her.”

“You think she understood your art?” Just asking questions to let him talk, so he’d continue to talk.

“Every photo.” He said with a small huff of a laugh. “Though… I always wanted to paint and draw more than I wanted to take pictures. My mother was the one who told me I should try it she was the only person who knew I liked to paint.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I wasn’t brave enough to hold a brush and deal with the things associated with it. I didn’t want to be under people’s scrutiny. My work was something personal, I didn’t think I could stand someone being critical of something that was so close to my soul. It was like being laid bare and exposed to everyone. I was scared to fail, but I couldn’t give up on art… so I became a photographer.”

She nodded and let her head rest on the shoulder of the seat.

“I am jealous of people like you and yet I admire you for your honesty, you didn’t hesitate going after what you wanted. You became a dancer… then a designer. The two things you seemed really passionate about.”

“It’s only natural to be afraid, V.” She leaned in. “You just have to be brave, raise your chin and be unapologetic about it. Take the criticism, weed out the good in the bad and learn. The first couple of things said will always hurt the worst but your skin will get thicker.”

“Thank you for saying that. I should have just painted on a blank canvas instead of treating Rika like one. I felt like it was the only thing I could do confidently to prove to myself that I could create this work of art through her.” His chin dipped again in shame. “Of course it was going to turn out bad, pouring all that love into her was just me trying to prove myself. The darkness she had in her was so different from what I believe that I couldn’t accept it. I ignored it and suffocated her.”

Chaeyeon sighed and hugged the back of the seat, like she wanted to do to V, wanting to comfort him more.

“Now you see me for the bad person I am.”

“You couldn’t be a bad person if you tried… we all can’t be perfect. You made a mistake. You have learn from it. I tore the muscle behind my knee and couldn’t dance anymore. I felt so hopeless, like everything I’d worked for meant nothing. So I took some time off to heal, both physically and mentally and had to rediscover myself. You can’t dwell in that dark place too long, blindly feeling around and wallowing. You have to lift yourself up and keep going.”

He squinted in confusion as he finally looked at her. “I feel… bad just moving on like that. I have to make it right. Isn’t it wrong to just turn your back on your mistakes and not own up to them? That’s why… I can’t just do that to her. I can’t turn my back on her without fixing this. Selfishness made it like this… it would be selfish to abandon her.”

This man was going to give her an ulcer. “You make it seem like it was a cardinal sin.”

“It feels like one.” He said firmly like he’d made up his mind already. “I feel responsible for whatever Rika does, anyone else that gets caught in this… it’s because of my own ignorance to what I was doing to her.”

“You can’t take the blame for someone else’s actions V.” She tried not to get angry but it was difficult when he seemed to think being a martyr would just solve all of Rika’s problems. “I understand how you feel but I feel like you’re just giving up on yourself.”

“I just want to make it stop.” He said his eyes welling up with hurt and frustration. “I want it all to stop. I want to stop hurting everyone, stop hurting Rika, stop Rika from hurting herself and me. And I don’t know what else to do… I just want it all to end.” He clutched his chest and stray tears fell down the slopes of his cheeks.

“If it gets too hard, please lean on me. Don’t be afraid to lean on your friends… because if you feel you can’t pull yourself up by yourself we will help you.” She pursed her lips and wanted to reach out to him.

“I don’t deserve your comforting words…” He laughed ironically, just a huff of air. “Thank you… for saying that. It gives me courage… it’s like you are holding my hand tight. I’m sorry I’m weak and this is the kind of person I am. But it makes me want to protect the type of person you are.”

“What do you mean?”

“A person that never let’s the darkness engulf her. A person who shines so bright and so warm that there’s no place for it to hide.” He said looking at her like he was actually seeing her, so soft and fondly that she felt suddenly timid under that gaze. “You’re so much stronger than I thought you were and a weak person like me wants to protect you… it’s alright if you don’t like how I am. I just don’t want to see you get dragged down into this pit with me.”

She leaned back and put on the most arrogant, stern face she could. “I’ll pull you out. If my feet slip or I feel like I can’t hold on, I won’t let you go. I’ll pull you out no matter what.”

“I still don’t believe I deserve your feelings. You must get tired of me saying that… I hope you leave before I hurt you too.” The anguish on his face never seemed to leave. “But at the same time I’m so thankful you haven’t… it’s so selfish and indecisive...”

“Alright.” She said clapping her hands. “Let’s get you back in bed and you can rest some more, we still haven’t flushed that poison out of your system yet.”

“Alright.” Throwing in the towel as he got out of the car and she slowly walked him back inside.

****

“Hey Seven, you seeing this right?” Daehyun leaned forward from his spot to gaze at his computer.

“The hacker changed his patterns… this can’t be the same one.” Seven cursed. “There’s two of them?”

“This one is sloppy, his code isn’t nearly as efficient but he’s pretty merciless.” Chaeyeon heard him respond, and they both were typing with the speed of light. By this time she noticed that for the older male, it was like riding a bike.

“Hey Vanderwood… how’s that job going?” Seven said without looking up from his screen.

“It’s hurting my eyes…” And she saw him press his palms into his eyes. They all seemed stressed and spread so thin. It was then she felt useless to all of them.

“I wish I could do more to help you guys out.” Set out some beverages for them.

“You could look through some of these pictures.” Vanderwood looked up seeming like he wanted to push this other computer right towards her.

“Nope nope Madam… she’s already taking care of V. Besides I’m letting you use one of my cars for doing this for me.

V came out of the room, looking a lot better but still worse for wear and approached 707’s side. “Luciel, do you think I could use your phone for a call?”

“Can’t… security reasons.” Chaeyeon watched him curiously, even squinting after V seemed disappointed hearing that answer. “Who are you trying to call? Ahjussi and I have the hacker backed into a corner so if you were going to call someone, now would be the best time. It might cause us some trouble though.”

“Jumin. I need to tell him something important in case something happens.”

“One.” He whipped his phone out of his hoodie pocket. “I mean it V, you have one minute. Any longer and he’ll be able to track the ping.”

“Okay.” He said taking the phone and stepping into outside or a moment. True to his word he returned exactly a minute later and going back to his room without much of another word. The side effects of the drug seemed to change his mood to something even more gloomy than the day before. Steeling herself, she followed after him into the bedroom.

 

“V? Are you okay? You feeling well?”

“I’m worried about the side effects… I do feel better than I did yesterday.” He ran his long fingers through his cyan colored hair. One thing could be said about him today, he looked a lot more put together, less like he been through the wringer.

 “You’ve been so quiet today. I was a little worried.” She sat down next to him with such delicate care as if he were a wild rabbit that would frighten with any sudden movements.

“I worry you a lot… but thank you for that… it feels good to know you care. You’ve probably not had a good nights sleep since because of me.”

“Don’t worry about it… I’ve been taking lessons from Seven… cat naps are where it’s at.” She said giving him a smile, and a determined fist. And he laughed.

“Those are bad lessons to learn.” His hands dangled between his knees right off the edge of the bed. “You’re a kind person… Though I probably make you angry.”

There was no way she could lie about it. “You do anger me so much, but it’s not your fault. I keep thinking that and I’m able to take a step back and see that you are struggling and dealing with things the only way you know how.”

“So you admit it… I’ve been giving you a hard time and Luciel a hard time. He’s sleeping even less than you, now your friend is involved… I’ve worried Jumin and the others as well. I hate that feeling… being a burden to everyone. I’ve inconvenienced you all because I tried to do this on my own and kept secrets...”

“If we didn’t worry, we wouldn’t be good friends to you. We aren’t being forced, we are in this because we want to help you. I admit hiding things probably didn’t make this better but you can work on that. Learning to rely on people more when you need them.” She said using her knee to nudge at him and his eyes seemed to light up. The playful gesture probably took him by surprise.

“I’ll try. I don’t want anything like this happening a second time. But I… don’t want to think about how Rika is going to bring all the people I care about into the fray. That guilt eats at me so much. And I feel like the only way to stop this is to just give in to her.”

“V.” She said turning more to face him. “I want to ask you something and I know it might seem selfish or negligent for you to do so. But can you let us worry about you? Can you trust in everyone? Can you believe me when I say that the best thing you can do for Rika is to stop prostrating yourself at her feet? That kind of thing can’t be good for her state of mind.”

“But right now… it’s the only resolution that I can see. The only way to not pull everyone down into the pit.” He said getting a little irritated, the harshness of his words nearly startled it. It was the first time she seen him so adamant about something since the matseon from long ago. When he put his foot down and said he wouldn’t marry her.

“It’s better for everyone if I just feed into the obsession… that way we can’t hurt anyone else. I’ve given her my eyes and if that’s enough I’ll let her rip off my hands, cut off my legs… if that means she pours every drop of her hate into me and spares everyone else. I would be fine with that.”

“I wouldn’t be fine with that!” Chaeyeon yelled so loud that the next room grew quiet. “I wouldn’t be fine with you doing that to yourself. You don’t care about yourself and that scares me because she will destroy you V if you let her… you are too precious to me.”

He looked down and picked up her clenched fist, uncurling her fingers. “Let me do this… You deserve so much more than me and I want to protect you anyway I can. I would do anything to protect you and the others, you all are precious to me too. It takes me to stop Rika.”

“Are you hearing yourself?” She said taking her hand out of his, blinking away any tears that threatened to spill leaving her eyes glassy and her eyes puffy. “Stop saying that! Stop trying to be a martyr! What are all the people that care about going to do if you do this to yourself?”

“I’m sorry. I’m willing to embrace her devil and let it drag me down to hell if it means it can’t hurt anyone else.”

“V…” She leaned forward with a gut-wrenching sob, she held her chest trying to speak through the emotions. “If you want me to be happy and everyone else to be happy. Leave Rika alone. You say you don’t want me to suffer? You will make me suffer if you do that.”

“You are probably right… but I can’t stand idly by.”

“Be selfish! Think of yourself! Don’t live your life as Rika’s possession that she can tear to pieces.” She said standing up. He just looked off to the side and she couldn’t stand to look at his face anymore, it pissed her off and made her sick. “You made up your mind.” She scoffed and had to leave the room before she did or said something she’d regret.

When she walked out into the common room, the three men didn’t look at her but it was obvious they heard her shouting because the jovial nature dimmed as she walked out of the small cottage sat right in front of Seven’s car and cried curling up so no one could see her.

 

It got later and later and V was at the end of his symptoms, the longest yard from what it seemed. He seemed even more adamant about giving himself in to Rika. Chaeyeon as exhausted and she lost the ability to fight him anymore. Thank god for Vanderwood, because when he asked him to take him to Rika, the other man pinned him with vexed stare. 

“All of us are struggling because of you… what are you even thinking doing something like that? You want to make all our efforts good for nothing? I’m sick of hearing her name… Aishh… It’s like a scraping over my brain and it’s making me crazy.”

Relatable.

“She drugged you and she’s behind the hacker tormenting 707 and that other guy. It’s not my business, but it seems like that girl is crazy… you can’t talk to her because you can’t reason with someone like that.” He said placing a cold press to face, hoping to cool down his fever a little more.

“Only I can stop her.” His eyes briefly gazed at Chaeyeon only to find she wasn’t looking at him and purposely avoided his eyes.

“You are too stubborn.” She said at his bedside as she dropped her face into her palm.

“He is.” Vanderwood said crossing his arms. “I wish he was kidding but it doesn’t seem like he is. Man, that lady is completely psychotic but you are just as bad if not worse.” She could see this almost scolding posturing that the other man took. It took her a moment, maybe blamed Seven for calling him Madam, to imagine him as a disappointed girlfriend. She would have laughed if she hadn’t felt gutted.

“I always knew she’d hurt me badly one day, I accepted that when I chose to be with her. I’ve signed myself into this long before the RFA. She didn’t know that darkness existed before me, until I continuously shone my light on her. I wanted to live through my love for her… so instead of expressing that passion through my art, I did it through her. So that I could prove I existed.”

“That’s deep.” The other man said blinking for a moment but then tilting his head and appearing unimpressed by those words.

“Chaeyeon.” V said turning to look at her and she finally looked at him, sad… like she’d already lost him because if felt like nothing she’d said or done had broken through. “I discovered that it wasn’t because of you. I’m thankful that you helped me realize that.”

She looked down for a moment, thinking. “Did you think about those questions I asked? Do you think you could let us stand with you?”

“No. I have to do this on my own.”

“Don’t you think this has slipped a little beyond your control.” She could hear the agent’s fingers tapping on his arm since they seemed permanently crossed since this conversation started. “I don’t know anything about this but it doesn’t seem to me this is something you should do alone.”

“I have to try. I’d risk everything to end it.”

“I’m tired of this.” It took everything for her to not crack her teeth from grinding them. She leaned back in her chair, a position that seemed unladylike. “I’m tired of talking about Rika. I’m tired of you treating your own life like it means nothing. Like it doesn’t matter to anyone. You don’t care about yourself at all, do you V? Nothing you’ve done in your life has mattered to you, none of the friends you’ve made, your art? Your whole life’s purpose was to be a footstool to Rika. I wish you’d snap out of it and realize your worth means more than that.” She didn’t have the strength to cry and scream anymore but there was a sharp barb to her words… god she hoped they’d stick.

“Wow… good one miss.” Vanderwood seemed torn between impressed with her and wincing from the sting of what she’d said. He rubbed his arms as if soothing the chills he just got from such an icy sting. “I’d hate to be on the receiving end of that. She has a point though… value yourself. Quit trying to be some hero or knight that nobody asked you to be. You aren’t a superhero.”

V looked between the two of them. “Your words are harsh but I know why you are saying them. I get the meaning… thank you… both of you. No one has ever said that to me.” She watched him seem even more embarrassed by the side he was showing.

“I wish you’d value yourself the way I value you…” She shook her head, he didn’t say he wasn’t going to do it. “Because to me, your life and happiness is precious. Because to me you are a person worthy of happiness.”

His head came up to look at her and she was already looking away, disappointed. He seemed speechless. “It’s too late but I regret… not meeting you earlier.”

She snorted humorlessly. In any other circumstance that statement would have been funny. She would have told him that they’d met before Rika. That she cared for him long before this moment and she’d only just fell in love with this broken man. She wanted to be the one to fix the fractured pieces, but it was up to him to do that. So that another break like this didn’t destroy him this way.

“I hope my words will follow you. I hope that you hear them well… You’ve had the courage to end this obsession all along. The same courage you have to stand and let Rika tear you apart is just one side of a coin. On the other face is the courage to walk away. It’s just the action of flipping that coin.”

V’s head jerked as if she’d struck him… something like that affected him more than her pleading and her reassurance? He looked like she’d given him something to think about.

“Daebak.” The other man in the room finally spoke up, almost forgotten in that moment. “That’s a really good one. How’d you get so wise Miss Chaeyeon?”

“Do you?” The aqua-haired man wet his lips. “Do you think I can do that? Flip the coin?”

Chaeyeon’s head nodded slowly as her arms uncrossed. “You have the coin… the courage but it takes strength to flip it. And you are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for.” She looked at him trying to process it, his eyes scanning as he took in those words.

She stood and walked to the door. “Call me if you need anything… I was thinking of making some real food, if I have to eat more junk food I’m going to be sick.”

****

She was getting calls from Ray… or rather something else that wasn’t quite Ray that made the fear of being found all the more real and terrifying. That and V had provoked Rika, he’d left messages in the chat room, relaying everything he told her and Rika seemed pushed even more towards manic. Whereas she seemed cool and collected with Mint Eye, now she appeared more hysterical.

V’s acknowledgement meant more to her than she said it did. And the way things were going it seemed like it was going to end the way that V said it would.

So there was those two issues, and she was dealing with V’s depression, anxiety, insecurities, and existential issues and it left her hallow and depleted of strength to be angry or sad. She felt trapped like a rat in a cage, awaiting to be eaten or killed by something bigger than itself.

So when she received a call from Ray, she was scared to answer it but she pushed through the fear.

“Chaeyeon?” She heard him whisper on the other end sounding he’d ran a race. “I’m… I’m sorry… thank god he didn’t get to you.”

“Thank god it’s you Ray… I was worried.” She stepped into the kitchen and spoke in hushed tones. “What’s wrong… are you hurt?”

“No… I’m fine. I’m just glad I got to talk to you again. Now I see that you aren’t going to be coming back… even though I want you to. I want you to be safe and happy.”

Immediately she didn’t like the sound of that. “Why are you saying it that way? You could leave Mint Eye, Seven said he could recruit you… he thinks you are talented.”

“No. Definitely not.” He said too quickly. “I’m still very sorry about the lies I told you. I made you sad when I hurt V. I should have known you are too good for us… too bright and shiny. Maybe that’s why I liked you and I wanted you here. You made me happy and feel cared for.”

“I do care for you Ray, as a brother. That’s why I wanted you to leave… can you at least think about it?”

“I can’t and I won’t promise to. I’ll… call you again sometime. I’m a bit… preoccupied with the redhead.”

“Right.” He hung up first.

 

“Chaeyeon!” She heard 707 call her and she came rushing in.

“Oh my god, what is it?” She was holding her chest scared and Seven laughed raising his head.

“The messenger is 89.7 percent finished and we will probably have it up in the next few hours.”

“Really?” She had her hands on her head as she belly-flopped on the couch kicking wildly and Vanderwood looked at her like she’d grown another head. “Ah! I thought I was going to lose it! Thank goodness.”

“Tell me about it.” Daehyun was finally able to take a break, and he flopped on his side. “How does Seven do this all the time?”

“Fueled on sugary and caffeinated sugary drinks.” She mumbled into the cushion.

“He’s a mad dog.” He replied back.

“That would be 'a god' to you, Ahjussi.” He said peeking over the computer to shoot him a smug smile.

Daehyun got up and dove for him, wrapping his arm around the younger man’s neck and putting him in a headlock. “Ahjussi? I’m like five years older than you…”

“Ack… I didn’t realize how strong your arms are… Oppa~♥” And he popped the p too, and blinked cutely, raising his hand to give him a heart with his thumb and pointer finger. The other two in the room, Chaeyeon and Vanderwood turned their heads to look at him strangely.

Daehyun let him go immediately and knocked him over, only for him to laugh. “Fucking weirdo. I thought about being friends but you are way too strange.”

“Amendment… you mean ‘way too awesome’. So if you don’t like me calling you ahjussi or oppa… what am I to call you?” Seven said raising up to his elbows.

“By my name.” Daehyun said looking at him cringing a little from being called either of those. “... or hyung.”

“Hyung? I thought we weren’t friends. Now you want me to call you hyung?”

“As much as I hate to admit, I guess we could be… friends…”

“You say it like it’s pulling teeth.” Seven pouted and Daehyun just gently gave him a knock on the head.

“It is. You need anything Seven? I need to take a break…”

“Nope… I’m good, I’m gonna finish this up.”

“Wow… they got close.” Chaeyeon said watching how the dynamic between the two changed from strangers to friends.

“They’ve been sitting here for three days working… I’m not surprised. I’m a bit surprised that a normal guy like Yoo Daehyun would get along so good with our resident oddball.”

V came into the room and Seven looked up excited. “We will have the messenger up soon, we’ll have contact with the others and you won’t have to do anything crazy.”

“That’s good.” He said smiling softly.

“Once that happens, we can get you to a hospital. I know Chaeyeon has been worried like crazy about you.”

“I know…” He looked towards her as she went to sit upright, so he wasn’t looking at her ass as he was talking. “I’m thankful for you and Chaeyeon… sorry I worried you so much.”

Seven’s smile fell. “Just stop apologizing, V.” His eyes narrowed a bit and he set his elbow on the table near his computer. “If you are sorry, stop being difficult and causing us problems. Stop making me doubt you.”

Daehyun returned with an arm full of Ph.D. pepper cans and started passing them out. But he stopped before he got to the red haired hacker.

“I wish you wouldn’t do that, keeping secrets from all of us. It wasn’t going to protect us… instead the secrets could have nearly drowned you. You should have told me everything from the beginning.” He looked over at Daehyun whose eyes were darting between him and V, like he was watching a drama. Seven thrust his both hands out and took it with two hands, after making the ‘gimme’ fingers. “The other members will be shocked once they find out… but I think they will stand by you… so don’t worry about that.”

“I wish I could believe that…” V’s lips pursed for a moment.

“They will… You’re the victim here and nothing Rika has done to you is justifiable… nothing she’s doing now is either. Just be honest with them and tell them, they’ll understand… it might be hard but they are waiting for you to tell them.”

“I’ll consider it… sorry for keeping all of this from you.”

“Stop saying you’re sorry.” He his brow pinched a little in irritation but not nearly as much as the first time he said it, this time it was softer. “You should be thankful to Chaeyeon…”

Her head ducked a little from being put on the spot.

“I should… her words have kept me going. She’s so good and I don’t deserve her.”

She looked over to see Vanderwood and Daehyun rolling their eyes almost in unison, for different reasons she was sure.

“Seems like she’s gotten through to you in some way.” He said twisting the cord to his headphones around his fingers… “V… about that hacker… Ray…”

“Um… Seven… something’s happening on your computer.” Daehyun moved next to him to take a better look. “Ah… this guy’s started up again.”

“Really? Man, just when I was getting a break.” Seven went to typing again and Daehyun took his place at his own.

“Hey,” The man across from him spoke up. “I’ll take care of the hacker, I know his patterns, finish the app.”

“Oooh, he’s such a kind Oppa,” Seven said looking to Chaeyeon. “Why didn’t you marry this guy again? Because you liked V?”

“Oh my god.” She wanted to hide right then because V just looked confused like it flew right over his head.

“I want beat you up every time you say Oppa… You are super weird.” The twenty-six-year-old programmer rolled his eyes as he worked.

“And everyone loves me for it.”

****

Seven being the god of hacking, managed to get the messenger back up in half the time thanks to the team effort. Daehyun was barely able to hold Ray off that whole time but managed it. She wondered why Daehyun stayed this long to help them. They weren’t best friends, and they only went out on one official date but she appreciated him sticking it out under these awful conditions.

“Wow… he’s turning up the heat.” Seven looked worn out after working at double the speed what was normal for him to get the app up and running… “I need help…” He said as the older man placed a bowl near his leg, best to keep it of the table and away from the expensive equipment in case any spills.

“What’s going on now?” Daehyun said around the spoon his mouth and the younger pushed a calculator in his direction. “You need me to get back on?”

“No just punch these numbers in.” Daehyun’s face twisted like he smelled something bad and didn’t believe it.

“He’s incredible… I want him now. I’m sorry, I’m pitching him a spot for my company. I could use a programmer like him.”

“We called dibs.” Both Seven and Vanderwood said in tandem.

“Chaeyeon… could you help me outside?” V said from his spot on the couch as he watched all of this happen, he seemed more willing to be around them and less likely to go out to the car alone or stay in his room.

“Sure.” She gave him her arm to help him up slowly, and the two stepped out of the warmth of the cabin and into the cool night. They walked along a path enjoying the sounds of the surrounding night.

 

“I’m nervous, it seems like it’s so close to the end. My heart is shaking…” He finally spoke when they had walked a ways out.

“Could be the drugs.” She responded with a small raise of the brow.

“Probably.” He took a deep refreshing breath, looking like he could smell and taste the air and the smell of pine around them. “It feels good, the breeze is nice.”

This was nice, him not apologizing for no reason and her not being angry or upset. It was refreshing… and it felt so normal.

“Back in the cabin… it was intense and it rattled me.”

“I could understand that. It felt like I was a trapped animal with someone shaking the cage… On edge, irritated by every little thing, scared.” She said softly.

He looked sorry for that but he didn’t say it… and she was glad for it. “Chaeyeon… I want to tell you something.”

“What’s wrong?” Her head turned, worried and he snorted.

“No… no nothing wrong.” He stopped and looked down at her with a smile. “Thank you. You said you would reach into the pit and pull me up and… you did that. If it weren’t for you, I’d still be fumbling around in the dark, struggling all alone.”

The flow of the conversation led them to taking slow small steps. “I tend to hide things, especially faults I might have. I would want to hid it from the world, even those close to me. I think everyone does but I suppose not to the extent that I went through… so no one knew what I was lacking. I don’t even know what I would do or say if someone would have came to me and asked me what I felt, what I truly felt deep down.”

He his head tilted to the side suddenly as he looked up, recollecting and remembering. It was adorably cute and animated for a man so somber and gloomy all the time and she tried honestly not to giggle.

“No wait… Jumin did ask. He’s the only friend that really seems to know me… well what I was willing to show him. Jumin told me once… that I was like a plaster cast statue, smooth and perfect on the outside but inside completely empty an no one ever tries to gaze into that emptiness.”

“Hm… Jumin said that?” She said with a small laugh. See if she didn’t know about Jumin’s rare subtle sense of humor from the many chats with him, she would have thought that was real rich coming from him.

“He did.” He laughed too. “I know what you thinking but Jumin isn’t a robot alright. That’s the first thing everyone seems to ask. But, he’s right… no one tried to look inside emptiness in me, they just saw the outside. Not my father, not Rika… Some people would notice it but they would never try to reach for it. And I thought that was okay and the way it should be for me. It wasn’t until you, you who looked into me and saw that. That I neglected myself… as hollow as I am… the only love I can give would hurt someone. I don’t know how to love myself so I couldn’t possibly know how to healthily love another person. I get it now.”

She wrapped her arms around him, like she wanted to all this time. Pressing her face against his chest and patting his back. She felt him stiffen a little but then relax in her arms. 

“Uh…” His breath hitched and she could hear it acoustically in his chest. “Is this what it’s like to be embraced by someone?” He sounded like he was sputtering and embarrassed.

“You are a good person V, you try even though it’s kind of misguided… Thank you for meeting me in my life. I’m glad I met you.”

His hands wrapped around her in turn and he seemed to pull her even closer. “You’re warm… this feeling feels so comfortable.” He let his chin rest on top of her head. “The only person who’s tried to embrace me was my mother, I never let her and I wish I did. It wasn’t until it was too late that I learned how much she loved me and I wanted to give that feeling that she gave me to Rika. I’ve been using love to define myself. I don’t know who I’m supposed to be because of that.”

“Still…” She was able to lift her head just a little. “Thank you, for walking through all the thorns to make it here.

“I’ll change, if I can be better I want to try to love again… The right way.”

“You can, I believe in you.”

“Since you said it… it makes me want to believe it too. I want to be a positive idiot when I’m with you. Thank you for coming into my life, Chaeyeon.” He sighed and pulled away first. “I got a little emotional. It’s been a while since I opened up about my mother like that.”

“It’s alright… it was an emotional moment for me too.” She said smiling, still feeling warm from that moment having him wrapped in her arms, him feeling safe and comfortable made her happy. She looked up at the stars and smiled, it was beautiful… not nearly as beautiful as V’s photo of the night sky but probably beautiful because they were together.

“Chaeyeon, could I have a moment please?” He said looking off to the side before meeting her eyes again with the eyes of a man with a lot on his mind. He probably had plenty to sort out.

“You sure you’re okay? I know you are still recovering.”

“I’m fine, I just need some time to think and sort out my thoughts and emotions.” She nodded, understanding and even turning to leave. “Chaeyeon… walk carefully? We are in the mountains.”

“Yeah, excuse me.” She said making her way back onto the trail, the closer she got the cabin, she heard a bleep from her phone. Ray had opened a chat room and she immediately opened it. He started to talk strangely, the text had a certain finality to it. She told him that she’d meet him soon,, and he said they wouldn’t be able to meet again.

Ray: Don’t... forget me  
Ray: I will never forget  
Ray: the time I shared with you  
Ray: Please  
Ray: remember me…  
Ray has left the chat room.

Fuck. She thought as she was now hauling it down the path to the house and when she got there, she saw another car she didn’t recognize. When she walked in she was greeted by a man in an expensive suit. He was just about what she'd pictured him to be from his profile picture... and he looked the same from when they went to the same church, much taller and older but still had this air of sophistication he'd always had

“Chaeyeon, we’ve talked on the messenger but I’m Han Jumin.”

“Yeah… nice to finally meet you too.” She said with a small bow.

He looked at her for a moment, like he'd seen her face before. "Wait... I've seen you before that. Did we meet somewhere before the messenger?"

"We didn't officially meet. You might have seen me from church years ago... we were all in high school."

"Ah... right I remember. Jeong Chaeyeon. We live in a small world..." Though she was blown away he remembered.

"… how did you find us?" She asked still a little flustered.

“I had my team track Seven’s location when V placed that call. Where is V?” He said slipping his hands into his pocket and she pointed towards the door.

“He’s in the woods, it’s right on the path… I… have to take care of something right now.” She walked past him and walked over to Seven who was finally taking a break. Seemed like the hacking attacks had stopped.

“Seven?” She said a little too loudly and he jumped. “If you want to recruit Ray, I need you to go get him now.”

“Woah! Wait, wait what?” He said waving his hands. “What’s wrong?”

“Read the chat.” She already had her phone in her hand and put it in his hand. He scanned the words. “I think he’s going to do something bad to himself, Seven… I’m scared. He’s fragile and the way Rika’s acting lately, I’m sure she’s neglected him even more… he’s probably slept even less than you.”

“Don’t you think you are overly worried for no reason. It might not be that serious.”

“Let's see; Ray’s in a fanatical cult drinking that same elixir V drank, I’ve run away from him and I’m sure Rika is too worried about V to mind what he does anymore. Let that sink in for a few seconds. Now go get him please.”

“Alright…” Seven got up and reached for his keys.

“Hey, I’m going too.” Daehyun said scrambling to untangle himself from the couch.

“Why?” Seven raised a eyebrow at him.

“I want to meet him.” He said with a grin. “Let’s take my car… Yours is kind of trashy.”

“Trashy?!” He looked back at Vanderwood and tossed him the keys. “You may enjoy the ride you earned. Make sure to not scratch it up.”

“Yeah whatever.”

 

Chaeyeon felt like she could breath a little easier but then her phone rang again, it was from… Rika? She contemplated on really answering.

“Chaeyeon?” She sounded beyond freaked out. “It-It’s me Rika…”

“I know who it is…” She said with a small nod and looked back at Jumin who was now watching her with interest after little outburst and then the phone call. Rika started to laugh and then it turned into small choking sounds.

“What have I done… no… I didn’t do it… I didn’t do it.”

“Rika? What are you saying?”

“No… he can’t die… he can’t…” Her stomach dropped and she swayed on her feet. It felt like her entire world tilted. V… she left him out in the woods alone.

“Rika! Tell me what you’ve done to V!” She said marching for the door, Jumin and Vanderwood trailed behind her. She was babbling about being the villain and for her to take care of V.

“I... I didn’t stab him that deep… he’ll be fine…. He’ll be okay… he can’t die from just that.” She hung up feeling sick and was running up the mountainous terrain to get the clearing where she left him. When she did, she found him lying in the grass, his shirt and his jacket stained.

She dropped to her knees, balling up his jacket and pressing it against the wound with force. She was already crying looking up at his face. She wasn’t so sure he’d make it out alive. He’d barely recovered from the poison and now he was bleeding profusely.

When Vanderwood and Jumin finally caught up she was sobbing uncontrollably, half the words she was saying seemed incoherent or inaudible. Jumin sprung into action and hiked the man up and onto his back.

The three of them climbed down the mountain until they reached Jumin’s car. V was barely conscious when they dropped him in the car. Chaeyeon climbed in right after and keeping pressure on that wound to slow bleeding, he’d already began to seep through his jacket and her hands were smeared with blood.

“Vanderwood…” She was able to control herself for a moment. “I need you to call Seven and let him know what happened. Tell him to get Ray no matter what and just meet us at the hospital after that.”

“Yeah.” He said nodding taking out his phone and walking back into the house, she supposed he was getting everyone’s things.

Jumin floored it to the hospital, she never seen anyone drive that fast besides on tv. She looked down into V’s face, white with pain and blood loss and even his lips had lost it’s their soft pink flush.

“What happened? Did Rika really do this?” Jumin asked as he weaved through cars.

“She did… I wish I never left you out there V…” She sobbed. “Don’t you die okay? I’ll be angry and sad if you die now.”

****

Hours passed since they got him to the ER and took him into emergency surgery, his bleeding persisted and they had to stop it before things looked real bleak. She sat out in the hall for hours feeling dead inside, like she was waiting for the worst news.

And there was Jumin sitting right next to her, it was sad that she got to meet him but in this way. He’d been so considerate, he didn’t say or do anything that would rattle her nerves and she was sure he had many questions about how it happened.

“Chaeyeon!” She heard down the hall and she turned to see Seven and Daehyun standing there. She stood up, he rushed over and took her by the arms gently. “Is he okay?”

She immediately started crying and shook her head. “I don’t know, they rushed him into surgery. Did you get Ray? Is he okay too?”

Seven looked pained for a second and nodded. “He’s alright, we caught him before he tried to blow the whole building away… you were right.” She watched tears slip down his cheeks. “We tied him up and sped back here… he’s getting looked at right now by the doctors.”

Her body sagged and her eyes rolled up as she started to fall.

“WOAH! Chaeyeon! Chaeyeon!!” Seven managed to catch her before she hit the floor.

****

She woke up in a hospital bed of her own, an IV in her arm. She looked up at Daehyun’s face, her whole body felt sore somehow.

“You’re awake.” She heard him sit up in his seat, the chair creaking from the shift.

“V…” her mouth seemed too dry, her voice too raw, her eyes teared up when she tried to speak.

“Hey no… take it easy. V came out of surgery a few hours ago.” He said checking his phone. “You fainted… from what the nurse explained, you were running on some sort of adrenaline until it dropped off and you passed out due to dehydration and fatigue… your blood pressure dropped and you went down.”

Her eyes closed, she wanted to speak but the stinging in her throat from screaming and crying made it nearly impossible.

“It was scary… seeing you do that.” He leaned with his arms against the bed. “For all your yelling at V to get better and take care of himself, you’ve been not following your advice. Anyway, just get some rest okay? Sleep a little more after you have this water and I can take you to see V if you can walk.” He handed her a paper cup and she drank all of it with a little trouble.

She wanted to say that she fainted and didn't break her damn legs but she closed her eyes again and went back to sleep.

****

True to his promise, Daehyun took her to V’s room. He was asleep and a lot worse for wear than she as, he was strapped to an EKG and had wires going every which way. She had to be careful not to knock her IV stand against anything as she sat down in the chair. When she reached out and put her hand in his, his fingers twitched.

“Chaeyeon…” His eyes opened as he turned his head to look at her. “What… where am I? We… were on the mountain…” His eyes finally focused on the IV sand and the fact that she was wearing cotton hospital pajamas. He went to sit up and groaned in pain.

“Don’t, we’re at the hospital.” She said putting her other hand on his shoulder to get him to ease back down.

“I can’t remember what happened…” His eyes blinked slowly and then darted around as he tried to scan for the memory.

“You were stabbed and you lost a lot of blood.”

His eyes widened a fraction as he looked up at her face then up to her IV bag, her squeezed her hand, albeit weakly but a squeeze, nonetheless.

“Did you get hurt? What happened?”

“No… um… this, I did this to myself.” She said dipping her head a little. “I might have pushed myself a little too much and after everything happened… I fainted.”

“I’m sorry… I must have scared you a lot… you’ve been taking care of me so much you’ve probably neglected your own needs. Look at us… seems we are two perfect fools then.” He sighed. “Other wise you are alright and I’m glad…”

“I’m glad you are alright too… I was so worried that you wouldn’t make it out of this.”

“I had a good reason to fight.” His smile was weak and sleepy. “I had a dream about my mother… it’s given me something to think about. I’ll take her words and your words and become even better. I just need some time.”

“It doesn’t happen overnight… I get that.”

“I want to try to love again, don’t know if I will be able to but if I get the chance, I want to try. If I could do that much I guess one day I can change for the better. I want to be more than leader of the RFA, the photographer V, Jumin’s friend, Rika’s lover… I want to find my identity outside of that.”

She smiled and took his hand in both of hers. “You’ve been long overdue to fly.” She let go though and went to stand. “I’ll let you rest… I want to check on something.”

“Okay… take it easy Chaeyeon…”

“Says the man who got stabbed.” She said looking back at him with a small eye roll and a smile. “I’ll be careful.”

****

It was a whirlwind right after, like a book rushing towards its closing. Just as Seven said they would, everyone believed in V and when Rika tried to persuade them they saw right through it. It only seemed to prove how fragile Rika really was. She watched as V told Rika that it was over in the chat. And watching her beg for him to forgive her, beg for him to come back and love her, she said she’d be good, she wouldn’t cry and scream and throw things. Though Chaeyeon only thought they were empty words… she was just chasing that warmth that she thought she felt in their relationship

Get help Rika. You aren’t healthy. She typed those words so often her hands could find the keys in her sleep, with her eyes closed.

They decided to cancel the RFA fundraiser the day before but the message didn’t get out until the day of and people had already shown up. She found out in the hospital that Rika came and tried to poison the wine, urging people to take the elixir laced wine bottles to their homes with them on the way out.

The person she least expected to be the one to catch Rika… was Yoosung. Yoosung was the one person that wanted to believe that Rika wasn’t behind any of the things she told him, fought her and Zen and Seven every time they tried to tell him otherwise. To him, Rika was pure and innocent, there was just no way she could do all those things.

They wound up shipping her off to Alaska to a mental health facility though she wondered why Alaska specifically.

When she was to be discharged, they kept her a little longer than what was normal to make sure there was nothing else wrong. Excitedly she went to tell V the news, she found his room vacant. She found out later that he’d been discharged and left though Jumin, who didn’t tell her where he went. Told her that he went really far away and said he wanted to change.

She also found out later that Ray and Seven had a history, one that tasted bitter and sour in her mouth when she found out. Ray, or Saeran, was Seven’s twin and the similarities between the two of them seemed to make more sense. Luciel poured all his time and energy into getting help for Ray, it took time for him to agree to it but their relationship started to heal.

Daehyun stuck around Seven more and more… the two of them had a really weird friendship. He seemed to become someone Seven could lean on and talk to. The two of them had a gag in the chat, he seemed the perfect foil to Seven. But as time went, they seemed less and less like friends or brothers even. She didn’t seem to question it though.

One day, Chaeyeon woke up and decided it was time for the RFA to start having parties again. At one point this was Rika’s pride and joy, she helped so many people and gave the proceeds to a worthy cause. When she opened the app and told everyone that she wanted to do it, not a single person argued otherwise.

This time, she had first hand experience of planning it, hands-on in the venue, seating arrangements, catering, and beverage menus. She still took suggestions for guests from the RFA but now Saeran and Daehyun were members and that opened the door for a lot more business CEO guests in the tech field.

She wished that V could see it…

She was sure that Rika would be happy to know that her legacy was still going strong.

 

Often, she thought of him. Wondering what he was doing and where he was. As a year passed since he left, she wondered if he’d even come back. However she told herself not to worry about him so much. Wherever he was, he was out working on finding his identity and she couldn't feel more proud and happy for him.

When the day for the party came, she looked around and felt a bit of pride swelling that it turned out to be so successful. They raised about eight million won to donate to mental health awareness and treatment in Korea, for suicide prevention and better equipped facilities. The speech that Yoosung gave was surprisingly eloquent and beautiful.

Chaeyeon found herself being asked ‘Are you going to change the name of the association seeing as though you heading it and took over Rika’s duties?’

She told them all ‘No, this was her vision. She wanted to help people and though she isn’t with us at the moment… this is still her organization. One day maybe she can resume her duties as coordinator.' 

“This party came out better than I thought.” She heard Daehyun come up next to her. “The other members have been praising you well.”

“You doubted me.” She said feigning offense. “So you staked your reputation knowing I wasn’t capable?”

“That wasn’t… I didn’t mean for it to come out that way and you know it.” He kind of pouted… maybe Seven was rubbing off on him.

“Where is your friend?” She asked looking around seeing Seven and Yoosung talking.

“Um… there’s something I have to tell you, Chaeyeon.” He winced a little and bit his lip. It was like he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure how her reaction to it would be. “I understand if you don’t want to talk to me… but I hope I’ve been a good friend to you that you wouldn’t abandon me…”

“Chaeyeon?” She heard another voice behind her and when she turned, she felt weak in the knees. “I’ve waited so long to see you.”

 

She stood there gaping, seeing him again. God, he looked good. Better than she’d ever seen him and looking confident like he’d found his place in the world. His smile was so bright and beautiful it rendered her speechless at the sight. She worked her mouth for a moment and she could not find a single intelligible word to say to him.

She often thought about what she would say if he did ever come back but she couldn’t even remember those words. 

“V?” She reached out and touched his arm, checking that he wasn’t a hallucination that her mind had fabricated. The person she wanted to see the most.

“Just Kim Jihyun now.” He said placing a hand over hers, answering back with a small gesture of his own. ‘I’m real Chaeyeon... I’m so very real.’ He spoke so formally, it was foreign… but then again he’d been gone for years and left without a goodbye. “It’s been a long time.”

“Yeah it has… been… a long time.”

“You look very shocked to see me.” His eyes moved between her and Daehyun who was a bystander up until that moment. “Did I keep you waiting for too long?”

“What? …no.” She bit her lip and changed the way she spoke. She was used to talking to V like they were close. He was a different person now, this version of V, this Kim Jihyun… “No, you didn’t. I didn’t feel like that long.”

Daehyun blinked between the two of them, there were so many words that the two seemed to want to say. He startled when Seven came up next to him.

“Wow… you actually made it.” Seven whistled and grinned. “I didn’t think you’d make it back in time for the party.”

“I wasn’t going to miss this for the world.”

“Before I lose my nerve.” Daehyun turned back to Chaeyeon. “I’m going to say it and let you get back to catching up.” He reached down and his hand took Seven’s, their fingers lacing and he squeezed. “I’ve been dating Seven for a whole year.”

Seven blinked and looked at him shocked, about as shocked as Chaeyeon. “Daehyu-”

“I wanted to say it… I understand if you can’t accept me.” Daehyun bowed and Chaeyeon looked from the top of Daehyun’s head to Seven’s face, his expression soft.

“I don’t care about that. I just thought you two were weird friends but I’m happy for you both. I wouldn’t stop talking to you because you’re…” She didn’t know if she wanted to call him gay or not… because she honestly didn’t know.

“Bi. We… we both are bisexual.” Seven finished the sentence for her as he rubbed his neck with his free hand. “We will talk more about this later… um… I think we should leave, hyung.” He seemed flustered as he tugged on Daehyun’s hand. “Continue with… whatever this is…” Seven pulled the man out of the banquet hall… they probably were about to have a talk about that little ‘coming out’.

“I’m glad for them…” She said with a small smile before looking back at Jihyun… who now just seemed relieved. “... I missed you Jihyun.”

He grinned more and slipped his hands into his pockets. “Can’t be anymore than I missed you… I missed you every day I was gone Chaeyeon. Many times I almost hopped a plane to fly to you but I cancelled them… I have enough to fill a scrapbook.”

“You could have called…” She seemed bashful hearing him say that so honestly.

“I didn’t want to tempt myself. If I called, I would have definitely crossed the world just to see your face.” He shook his head. “I found a new hobby to keep me busy, putting together blank white puzzle pieces and painting on them these past two years.”

“So you are finally painting now?” She said seeming impressed.

“Yeah, the first one was so hard… I spent many hours deliberating over what to paint and what colors to use. Those puzzle pieces have a piece of me in them… now after how careful I was.”

“I bet it’s beautiful.”

“I should show you one since you seem so curious.” He licked his lips and looked around them at the scene, she didn’t notice until now how sharp and clear his eyes were… he must have gotten the surgery to fix the damage done to them. “I would also like to offer you something… do you remember what I said before I left?”

She squinted a little. “I remember you said you wanted to try to love someone.” She unsure for a moment, like she was bracing herself for bad news. Probably found someone else… but then maybe that was good.

“Yes that was what I said. And now I feel confident enough to do that…” He finally looked down at her. “I want to make more beautiful paintings with you, Chaeyeon. I want you. I want to chose you.”

“I can’t promise we might not fight. But I want to hold onto my brush with your hand on mine… I want to paint the canvas that is my life story with you. Be who you are, I won’t treat you like my canvas… keep everything that comes with you and I promise I won’t try to banish any part. I want to love you. I will love you. I love you… Chaeyeon. I love you as much as I love myself.”

It was like a punch to the gut that knocked the air from her lungs. She started to cry really ugly tears too. “God damn it… Jihyun.”

 

He blinked and watched her. “What’s the matter, you don’t want that?”

“No… I’m not wearing waterproof mascara and I’m at a charity event. I’m going to have black streaks on my face.” She sobbed, it made him laugh. “I’m happy… too happy… I think I’m broken.”

He hummed and pulled her into his chest. “I wasn’t expecting this reaction… I thought you were always such a pretty crier.”

“Oh and you came back a sarcastic person.” She said lifting her head and playfully batting him on the chest. “How dare you make me cry in front of everyone.”

“I could always kiss your tears away.” He said softly taking out a handkerchief out of his pocket, gently dabbing her eyes dry.

She scoffed. “And you came back a smooth talker… what am I going to do with you.” The grin she gave him was watery. “I love you too. For so long.”

****

They moved in together, selling his old house and all the memories with it. This one was spacious… keeping in mind he needed space to work on his paintings. He lifted the last box into the bedroom as Chaeyeon worked on unpacking each room. This box contained her belongings and he felt kind of curious. He carefully untucked the lid and pulled out things to put them away when his hand went on a stack of pictures. Pictures of her, of her family… to which looked oddly familiar to him. Then one of his prints, one of his photos of the night sky glowing with stars. He flipped over the postcard and read the purple ink.

 

 _It is in the quietest of moments,_  
_the silent pause found_  
_in twilight hue,_  
_when the sun_  
_slips behind the horizon,_  
_lost to a single_  
_purple pen stroke -_  
_I find myself_  
_thinking of you._  
  
_How your eyes_  
_reflect the moon_  
_in mine,_  
_reminding me_  
_of a love_  
_greater than_  
_the universe -_  
_our destiny written_  
_in the stars._  
  
_\- Michael Faudet_

 

“Jagiya!” He called looking at the pictures and the poem written on the back of his postcard with something akin to déjà vu.

“Yeah?” She said coming into the room and standing in the doorway. 

“Where’d you get this print? It’s one of my photos.” He watched as she made this face like she had plenty to say. Chaeyeon put her hands in back pockets of her jeans shorts and rocked on the balls of her feet.

“I got it from an exhibit.”

 “You went to one of my exhibits? When?”

 "Ahh… five or six years ago.” He did a double take then, so she went to his exhibit years before they met on the messenger.

 “Really?”

“Yeah, Daehyun took me… it was a coincidence though that you happened to be showing there. We met, you talked about apertures and stuff.”

“We met before?”

She laughed and walked into the room sitting down on their bed and patted the seat next to her. “We met twice before that but you didn’t remember… so I didn’t bring it up.”

“Twice before that?” He said sputtering as he took a seat next to her.

“Now you’re just repeating what I’m saying… I suppose I should tell you then. I didn’t want to because it’s embarrassing.” So she did, she told him how she met him in a bookstore and though he was the prettiest thing she had ever seen, started going to his church just to meet him. She told him how she attended his mother’s funeral and worried that he wasn’t alright. The time both their families set them up trying to get them together and he flat out refused and walked away. They met again at the art exhibit and he only seemed to grow more handsome, but he was with Rika then so she let him be.

He felt like scum, only then did he start to remember those encounters. His Chaeyeon chased him but he was too busy looking down. “I feel awful.”

“Jagi… don’t feel bad about it.” She said rubbing his knee… god he was blind, the red string tied them both together all this time, and he deliberately tried cut it. The thought it was fate that he met Rika… but here was someone he had more than ten years of history with.

“Nope… I don’t think I can go on… I’ve hurt my Chaeyeon so much.” He said flopping down dramatically. “Your parents are really going to hate me when I meet them next week." 

“They will live.” She said laying her head down on his outstretched arm.

He turned to look at her smiling at him. “Think they’ll forgive me by the time we get married?”

“I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one.”

“Chaeyeon, my star.” He pulled her into his arms and squeezed her. She looked into his emptiness and tried to reach it long ago. What an oblivious fool he’d been.

“Jihyun… we have to unpack the house.” She started squirming when he got a little handsy. He leaned in and kissed her, trying to peel her shorts off. She laughed against his mouth.

“Shh, let me hold you. I want to make up for twelve years of neglect.”

**Author's Note:**

> IMPORTANT A/N: The poem is called "Destined to be Yours" by Michael Faudet. It's what really propelled the whole star theme. Because there is a lot of mention of the sun so why not?
> 
> I also need more sarcastic V and Daehyun/707 in my lifeeee....
> 
> -ssi (씨) : an honorific used to address someone about the same status as you, commonly used on someone's whole name  
> -nim (님) : an honorific used to address someone of a certain amount of importance, skill, intelligence.  
> -abeoji (아버지)/appa (아빠) : father/dad  
> -eomma (엄마) : Mom or mommy.  
> -daebak (대박) : 'big win' but usually used like 'wow' or 'awesome'  
> -omo (오모): 'oh my' or 'omg'  
> -matseon (맞선) : A blind date set up by parents or a matchmaker with the sole intent for possible marriage.  
> -aissh (아이씨) : kind of an interjection close to being like 'damn it' or 'geez' usually when someone is pissed off or irritated.  
> -aigoo (아이고) : another interjection that's like 'geez', similar to a sigh.  
> -aegyo (애교) : cute display of affection, baby voice, facial expressions, and cute gestures are usually involved.  
> -ahjussi (아저씨) : what you would call a middle aged man, meaning 'uncle'.  
> -oppa (오빠) : used by a younger female to address an older male, could be a brother, a friend, or boyfriend. Meaning 'older brother'.  
> -hyung (형) : used by a younger male to address an older male, could be a brother or a friend. Also meaning 'older brother'.  
> -jagiya (자기야)/jagi (자기) : like sweetie, honey, baby... all them terms of endearment.


End file.
